Angel Shroud
by Sileny
Summary: There are some people who can be hurt and not affected. There are others… who simply become twisted. But that is simply their way of calling for help, of begging someone to come save them, although it is up to the savior on deciding how he wants to do it.
1. Prolegomenon – Project Angel

**Angel Shroud  
**By: Sileny

**_Summary:_** there are some people who can be hurt and not affected. There are others… who simply become twisted. But that is simply their way of calling for help, of begging someone to come save them, although it is up to the savior on deciding how he wants to do it.

_**Disclaimer:**_ If only I owned Prince of Tennis... *sobs*

* * *

**_Prolegomenon – Project Angel_**

Contrary to popular belief, the research institute was _not_ an imposing structure of solid cement, with all four walls at least five feet thick and having narrow windows that were an inch wide set high up in them. It was _not _situated in the middle of the harsh arctic, nor was it situated in the middle of a bone-dry desert. Masked soldiers in camouflage gear did_ not_ patrol the perimeter of the facility, and there were no hidden traps in the geography around the building, fancy lasers included.

Instead, the research facility was a thoroughly modern building just outside of Tokyo, with nearly one whole side of it covered with glass windows that reflected the light of the sun (it made for a spectacular image at sunset and sunrise). It was four stories high, surrounded by cheerful displays of spring flowers and majestic trees. The first two stories of the building served as a doctor's office for a local practice of pediatricians and other doctors, both family doctors and specialized ones, so there were generally children around the area holding lollipops in their small hands as they left the building to go home, or older children shuffling their way into the building for their annual checkup, or the occasional senior citizen or other patient.

But that was the friendly side of the research institute.

While it was a known fact that research was conducted at the building, the type of research had never been disclosed to the general public. Nothing was leaked out; all information stayed with the research staff on the third and fourth floors.

Now, what sort of research is this, you wonder? It is actually quite simple: human genetics.

Only it was the quite ordinary subject of human genetics applied onto subjects that were not-so-ordinary people.

***

The research staff was composed of primarily eight scientists. There was Echizen Ryoma, the youngest of the team (age: 20) but undeniably bright, who was a Master in Biogenetics. Then there was Kaidoh Kaoru (age: 22), who was a Bachelor in Science, specializing in Chemistry, and his mentor, Inui Sadaharu (age: 25), who held a Ph.D in Chemistry. Momoshiro Takeshi (age: 22), was a Bachelor in both Biochemistry and Physics. Oishi Shuichiro (age: 24), was a M.D, and his best friend, Kikumaru Eiji (age: 23), was Master in Psychology. Kawamura Takashi (age: 24), held a Bachelors Degree in Biology (his sushi business came first, obviously, but he had still found time to earn a degree in science with the encouragement of his friends.

And then there was the leader of the research group, a man called Tezuka Kunimitsu (age: 25). He held a Ph.D in Biochemistry and Mathematics and was the only one who was able to single-handedly obtain order in his team, what with his stern face, harsh glares, and not-so-rare threat of laps around the research institute as punishment for disobedience.

Of course, his threats were always followed through with, so one could usually see seven scientists running around outside the building.

"How's everything going?" Tezuka asked, walking into the conference room on the third floor with a cup of steaming coffee (black, no sugar or cream added) held in his hand. He surveyed the rest of his team before sitting down heavily on a chair, sighing as he did so.

"Is everything alright, Tezuka?" Oishi asked worriedly, looking up from a stack of papers he held in his hand. In addition to being a member of the research team he held an office on the first floor and saw children from the ages of five to twelve.

Tezuka massaged his temples with one hand, looking tired. "Just tired," he muttered. "The new subject had a lot of paperwork attached to him, and upper management apparently holds the subject in high regards." There was a laptop in front of him, with many wires that connected to a projector. Setting down his coffee, Tezuka flipped open the laptop and booted it up. "Our project is one of top secrecy, and is called Project Angel."

"Angel, nya…! What a nice name!" Eiji couldn't help himself from exclaiming, and small smiles crossed everyone's faces (albeit Tezuka's, but that was to be expected).

"Momoshiro, turn on the projector," Tezuka said shortly, and the young man jumped up to obey. In a few minutes, the display screen flickered to life, showing the computer's desktop. Tezuka moved through several folders until he opened a file and then stood up from his chair.

"Allow us to begin," he said, and there was a faint rustling sound as all the members rearranged themselves so that they could clearly see the screen. "The subject's name is Fuji Syusuke, age 24, whose birthday on the 29th of February."

"Blood type?" Oishi asked, scribbling onto a medical form as he listened. Kaidoh and Momo looked curiously over his shoulders as he wrote.

"We'll be conducting a thorough physical examination when he gets here."

Taka was perplexed. "He's human, isn't he?" he asked, scanning the rest of the data on the screen. "Are we going to be performing tests on an actual human being?" He looked worried. "Is that even possible? Or legal?"

Tezuka returned to his seat, setting his elbows on the table ad lacing his fingers together, resting his chin on them. "Not quite. Fuji Syusuke is a… unique character." He moved onto the next file and several images popped up. A collective gasp was heard around the room. "This," Tezuka said slowly, "is Fuji Syusuke."

A young man with honey-colored hair that hung down around his face in wispy strands leaned against a post, resting his head on it with his hand reaching up to rest at eye-level. He was dressed plainly: a shirt that was a tad too large for him and with the sleeves rolled up to his shoulders and a pair of faded blue jeans. Blue eyes, not too clear in the picture, stared out at the eight men. But that was not what caught their attentions.

It was the wings. The pair of powerful feathered wings that the man possessed. Even in the photo, they could see each and every feather, which was so skillfully captured that they could almost feel its softness against the tips of their fingers. There were other pictures, from the side, from the back, a three-fourth profile picture, and one where his wings were spread out against a plan wall, but all eyes were on the first picture, because it was the biggest and the one that could let them see the best details about their newest subject.

Shock was on every single man's face except for Tezuka's, but only because Tezuka had already seen these pictures multiple times before. Tezuka closed his eyes, remembering the shock he himself had first felt when he had seen the pictures. He had sat at his desk, allowing open disbelief to cloud his usually stoic features as he had scrolled through the pictures of the winged man.

Rubbing his temples for a few moments, he looked up at the rest of his team. "Gentlemen, this is why our project is called Project Angel. We will be analyzing this man in order to see what he has in his genetics that we, as regular humans, don't have. We will be taking a logical approach to explain the phenomenon that this man sports."

He fixed each man in the room with a hard stare. "We are the only men who know of this Fuji Syusuke besides upper management. He is a top secret that no one else is to know about, and will be directly in our care for the duration of Project Angel. If anything arises, you will report directly to me, not to anyone else."

His gaze hardened, if that was at all possible. "Are there any questions?" When there were none, he stood, shutting off the laptop and closing it. "Very well, then. You are all dismissed."

At the door, he paused, looking back over his shoulder at the rest of them. "Fuji Syusuke will be arriving tomorrow at noon. We should prepare a place for him to stay tomorrow morning. I expect everyone to be up and ready at around eight."

There were several groans, but in the end, everyone agreed on eight. "Nya, Oishi," Eiji turned to Oishi as they left the conference room after tidying up the chairs and the like. "I wonder what this Fujiko will be like."

"Fujiko?"

Eiji nodded, grinning. "I'm going to call him Fujiko! It's a friendlier name, don't you think?"

"Well… if you say so…" Oishi said, although he had no idea how Eiji had thought of that. "We should get going," he said softly, shutting the lights and ushering the other man out of the room before shutting the door. _Wings,_ he thought dumbly, his green eyes looking very confused.

_How is one… born with wings?_

* * *

A/N: Whoo! New Prince of Tennis story along the lines of science fiction!

This means anyone can whack me on the head with a frozen fish if there's anything wrong with it. Writing a science fiction-y piece was harder than I thought...! *whine whine*

This was inspired by a picture my friend Teresa drew... in pretty purple pen. XD  
Link: _http:// fimbulvetrice(dot)deviantart(dot)com/art/Angel-Shroud-124502099_ [replace (dot) with actual dots and remove the space!]  
Isn't he pretty? Of course he is.

This was originally going to be a oneshot but I decided not to make it into one. Because I can't develop a plot in a oneshot because I'm just not cool that way. And now I'll shut up and go back to writing Sugar Sweet.

**Read and Review!** Please!!! Pretty please with whipped cream and a cherry on top!!!!!


	2. Test 1 – Fuji Syusuke

**_Test 1 – Fuji Syusuke_**

Fuji walked into the research institute in a thoroughly unhappy mood. His back ached. Very badly.

Actually, it wasn't his back that ached. It would have been more accurate to say that it was his wings that ached. His "packagers," as they had dubbed themselves, had taken it upon themselves to make Fuji as normal and presentable as possible. This involved a rather painful and elaborate process (in Fuji's perspective) of getting Fuji's wings to bend and twist so that they lay flat against his back, and as if _that_ wasn't enough, they had to bring in the duct tape.

And what vexed the young man even more was the fact that they couldn't even have applied the duct tape in a neat or semi-neat fashion. The sticky stuff was crisscrossed all over his upper body, matting down his feathers and making moving exceedingly difficult.

His eyebrows curved down above his smiling eyes and he muttered a string of curses under his breath as he started to make his way over to the front desk, an angry force to be reckoned with (other visitors cowered away from him and the deathly aura that he emitted). It seemed that the only one who was unaffected was a little boy, who seemed only to be around the age of five or six.

"Onii-san!" the child said, tugging at his shirt. Fuji paused and looked down at the boy. "Onii-san! Why do you have feathers sticking out of your shirt?"

Crap. Fuji made a mental note to hunt down his packagers and teach them a lesson later. A very painful lesson, mind you.

Fuji squatted down so that he was eye-level with the child. "Onii-san was in a pillow fight earlier," he said, very seriously. The child nodded, just as serious, complete with an adorably cute frown on his little face. "Some feathers got stuck because Onii-san was not good at dodging the hard throws of his little brother. Would you like a feather?" It wasn't all a lie… Fuji _did _have a little brother who put a lot of power behind shots of any kind.

A smile broke out on the little boy's face. "Hai!" he said happily, holding out his little hand.

Reaching up, Fuji plucked a feather out, wincing slightly as it came out with only slight resistance. And it was one of his remiges… he had quite liked those (actually, he figured that those were the only kinds of feathers he possessed, seeing as he wasn't a bird); they were nice and white and soft. "Here. It's soft, ne?" he asked, tickling the little boy gently on the cheek. He giggled, accepted the feather, and then ran off to his mother, telling her happily about the 'Cool Onii-san who was in a pillow fight and gave me a soft feather!' His customary smile widened as he saw the happy smile on the child's face. Children were so adorable, all cute and sweet and innocent.

"Fuji Syusuke-san?"

Straightening up, Fuji turned to see a man with short black hair and gentle green eyes standing behind him. He was dressed casually in a white shirt and a pair of khaki pants, holding a clipboard in his right hand, which rested at his side. Standing next to him but slightly behind was a redheaded man, shorted in height and with shining indigo eyes that regarded him playfully. He was dressed casually as well, although his choice of clothing gave him a slightly more teenage look, what with the red sweatshirt and the scuffed up jeans and the baseball cap that he had jammed onto his head quickly in order to cover his bed-hair (he had just crawled out of bed, despite the previous day's warning of getting up at eight).

"I am Oishi Shuichiro," the green-eyed man said, extending his hand for a handshake. Fuji shook it briefly before Oishi spoke again. "This man is Kikumaru Eiji," he said, nodding to the smaller man behind him.

"Just call me Eiji, nya!" Eiji said happily, bouncing forward and taking Fuji's hand in his own, where he then proceeded to pump it up and down enthusiastically. "Nya… I'm so happy to meet you, Fujiko!"

Fuji said nothing, although he looked surprised (as well as faintly bemused, as well).

Eiji gave an enthusiastic nod of his head. "Fujiko conveys a much friendlier feel, don't you think? It makes it sound like we're good friends!" he asked, talking rapidly. "It also makes for a wonderful nickname, nya!"

_Kikumaru Eiji is a neko in disguise,_ Fuji noted to himself, nodding pleasantly as he continued to listen to Eiji chatter on. _He has so much energy… I wonder where he gets it all from?_

The man was saved from listening to any more of Eiji's cheerful chatter by Oishi, who placed a hand on Eiji's arm and dragged him back gently. "Eiji is easily excited," he offered kindly, before turning to go to the elevator. "Fuji-san, please come with us. You'll meet the rest of the team and then we'll commence with your physical examination." He started for the elevator, giving the nurse at the front desk a small nod and smile, which was returned. "We'll be going to the fourth floor," Oishi told Fuji when all three of them had gotten into the elevator and pressing the button.

"Nya, Oishi, why are you clutching your clipboard so hard?" Eiji piped up from the corner of the elevator where he had positioned himself, leaning comfortably against the walls. Oishi blinked, and then glanced down at the hand that was clutching his clipboard. Eiji was right; he had been gripping the poor thing so hard that his knuckles almost turned white.

"Eh… no reason…" Oishi muttered, flashing a quick smile. But something was bothering him. It was the way Fuji had shaken his hand, the way that Fuji didn't seem to have the strength to properly grip his own. And Fuji's hand was cold, not warm like anyone else's. It was summer, not winter, so this was worrisome to him.

Eiji tilted his head to the side in mild puzzlement before shrugging it off. Oishi would tell when he wanted to. Either that, or Eiji would wheedle it out of him bit by little bit. Eiji was good at those kinds of things.

Or… Oishi simply humored him on a day-to-day basis. But Oishi wouldn't do that, would he?

The redhead had a silent panic attack in the corner of the elevator, and had just decided that he was going to tackle Oishi and figure out whether or not the other was indeed humoring him regularly, when the elevator doors opened and Oishi walked out, with Fuji padding quietly behind him, looking very much like a lost puppy.

Eiji grumbled, but hurried after them nonetheless, deciding that he'd have to tackle Oishi later.

"Please come this way, Fuji-san," Oishi said, showing Fuji into a conference room not unlike the one where they had been in last night. Fuji's face adopted a curious look, his head tilted gently to the side, but walked into the room.

Both Oishi and Eiji cringed when they heard Momo say, very loudly, "This is Fuji Syusuke-san? Where are his wings?"

"Should we…?" Eiji started, giving Oishi a nervous glance, but never finished his thought as there was suddenly the sound of a scuffle, with the all too familiar arguing of Momo and Kaidoh erupting from it.

"Momoshiro, Kaidoh, twenty laps around the institute after Fuji-san introduces himself."

"H-hai…!" Resistance was futile; it only gave way to more laps.

Oishi and Eiji walked into the room to find Tezuka standing up, walking over to Fuji and holding out his hand. Fuji shook it only after a brief moment of hesitation. "Konichiwa, Fuji-san," Tezuka introduced himself, grasping Fuji's smaller hand in his own and shaking it in a professional manner. "I am Tezuka. Tezuka Kunimitsu. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Fuji's grip on Tezuka's hand wasn't too firm; rather, it was almost limp in Tezuka's grip. It was almost exactly like how he had shaken Oishi's hand. "I'm Fuji," he said, speaking for the first time to the men around him (Oishi and Eiji having conveniently missed his conversation with the little boy earlier). His voice was soft, just above a whisper, but loud enough that he could be heard without his listeners having to strain their ears to hear him. There was a slight gentle lilt in his voice, and a certain aura of calmness that made everyone around him feel at ease.

The rest of the team introduced themselves, and Fuji nodded politely to them each in turn, extracting his hand from Tezuka's and letting it fall limply to his side where it just hung there. Oishi, seeing this, began to worry some more, what from previous observation and his nature. Fuji Syusuke did not act like a normal 24-year old man. Was he eating enough? Did he get enough sleep? Oishi couldn't stop himself; these questions were already taking form in his mind and he made a mental note to ask them when they commenced the physical exam.

"Daijoubu, Oishi, nya!" Eiji whispered cheerfully to his panicking friend, snapping him out of his thoughts. Oishi was wonderful, that was a given, but he needed to loosen up a bit and stop worrying. Eiji swore that being too much of a worrywart took years from the young doctor's life. "Cheer up. Cheer up! Fujiko's probably just a little tired today!" he said cheerfully, slapping his friend happily on the back. "Moving is a tiring process!" Oishi decided that telling Eiji about his unusual lack of strength, or the coldness of his hands, would be futile and a waste of breath on his part. Later, he'd have to talk to Tezuka about that. Or perhaps Inui.

Turning to Tezuka, Eiji flashed a wide grin at the older man. "Nya, shall we start the physical, now?" he asked. "The sooner that's done, the sooner Fuji can settle into his new room!"

Tezuka nodded slowly; there was truth to Eiji's words (Eiji did not always act like a child; if he wanted to, he could be very mature, but that was only when he wanted to). "Fuji-san, Oishi and Kikumaru will see to your physical examination, and then will escort you to your room. If any question arises, please feel free to ask either of them or any of us if you should happen to see us. We shall look forward to seeing you for dinner." Fuji nodded quietly and followed Oishi and Eiji out of the room.

There was silence in the conference room before Tezuka nodded to Momo and Kaidoh. The two men excused themselves and trotted off to do their laps. When they were gone, he turned his sharp hazel gaze to the rest of his team. "What do you think?"

"He's a quiet one," Inui stated, marking down notes into his notebook to be transferred onto his laptop later on. "Oishi looked worried; it seems that he picked up several things when he first saw him." Inui frowned, setting down his pen and lacing his fingers together, resting his chin on his hands. "Fuji-san seems more than tired, judging from the way he shook your hand. There is an 87% chance that Oishi thinks so to." There were nods of agreement all around the table. That had not gone unnoticed by the team.

"Shall I run an analysis on his background information? Schedule an appointment with his family or his previous doctor?" Inui asked, looking thoughtful.

Tezuka shook his head. "There's no need for that yet, but please be able to contact them should we decide that it's needed." Inui nodded, picking up his pen and marking down a few more notes. "Minna-san, I'd like to please ask you to stay for tonight. We'll iron out the details about how we're going to make these next few weeks of research work." Tezuka did not want to keep all of the members of his team at the research institute for as long as Project Angel would take, but upper management had stressed that they would like to keep everything about this strictly confidential.

Unfortunately, that meant that if Tezuka let the team go home to their families, there would be a risk of them leaking it out to them. Tezuka sighed. Problems seemed to be building up faster than he could solve them.

"Actually, if need be, I can have my father look after the sushi shop," Taka offered. "This way, I won't be able to say anything about the project and everything can be kept a secret."

"Is that alright, Kawamura?"

"Hai! I can arrange for it."

Tezuka nodded. There was one problem solved, at least. "I'm sorry for making you do this. Please give your father my humblest apologies."

"It's quite alright."

Echizen spoke up. "I'm fine with staying here, as well," he offered. He would do anything to stay away from his perverted father, who was currently making his life a living nightmare. Just because he didn't have a girlfriend at this time, didn't mean that it was alright for his father to arrange omiai's with nearly every single girl in Tokyo. Staying at the institute would offer him a few weeks of peace where that was concerned.

"I'll also be fine with staying here," Inui spoke up again, "since it's either here or my apartment. I can more quickly access data if I stay here, too."

Tezuka nodded as he listened, quite glad that they were so willing to comply with staying at the institute. "Kawamura, when Momo and Kaidoh return from their laps, please ask them about this issue." Taka nodded quietly. "Echizen, you'll come with me and we'll do a check up on the equipment. Inui, please check that Fuji-san's room is prepared and then begin the preliminary research."

"I understand." All four stood and left, each heading their own way: Taka to find Momo and Kaidoh from their laps, Tezuka and Echizen to the many lab rooms, and Inui to the living quarters with his notebook tucked safely under one arm.

Inui opened the door to Fuji's assigned room and gave a quick peek inside. It was spacious, with a large window overlooking an endless green field with the highway cutting through it. The room was sparsely furnished, with a bed pushed against one corner, a desk against the opposite wall, several chairs placed around the area with a couple lamps, and a connecting bathroom. A single travelling bag was on the desk. On a whole, the room was neat and orderly, and it seemed that everything was all set. Nodding quietly, Inui shut the room and left, taking the elevator to the lobby.

"Inui-san, you're leaving?" asked the nurse that manned the front counter.

"I'll be back shortly. I need to pick up some… things… from my apartment."

"Oh… in that case, I'll tell them to lock up later, since it takes awhile to drive to your place," replied the nurse, checking a sheet of paper before flashing him a pretty smile.

Inui chuckled, rewarding the nurse with a genuine smile. "Thank you, Sakuno-san. Good luck with Echizen."

"Huh?" He left a blushing Sakuno at the counter, walking out of the building with an expression on his face that was like a cat with a bird. _Chance that Sakuno-san likes Echizen: 100%,_ he noted to himself. _Chance that Echizen will return those feelings: 4%. I wish you the best of luck._ He sighed, unlocking his car and getting in, starting the engine.

_Now… about this Fuji Syusuke…_

_***_

Oishi and Eiji were at a loss of what to do. Fuji had planted himself by the window, staring outside with a forlorn look on his face. Any earlier attempt at a conversation had failed miserably… it seemed that Fuji would not speak unless he absolutely had to or unless he felt like it.

Oishi coughed, glancing at Eiji, who simply shrugged helplessly. "Fuji-san," Oishi tried again. This time, Fuji turned around, a questioning look on his smiling face. "Fuji-san, um… the physical examination would actually go a lot faster if you, uh, participate."

Fuji's smile quirked up slightly to one side. "Oh?" he asked, looking thoughtful (Oishi swore that Fuji was toying with them). He padded obediently over to them, smiling cheekily. "I'll participate, then."

"Um… thank you…" Oishi muttered, sighing to himself. He could envision long weeks ahead for him, and wasn't sure if this made him particularly happy. "If you would, please take off your shirt and we'll have a look at your wings."

Fuji obeyed, taking off the garment and putting it to the side, so that he stood before them shirtless, his chest covered in duct tape. He watched in faint amusement the expressions of Oishi and Eiji (Eiji's jaw nearly hit the floor). "My 'packagers' decided that using duct tape was necessary," Fuji explained, amusement clearly in his voice. All of a sudden, the tense silence seemed to be gone and Fuji seemed… eager to talk.

"Help me get all of the tape off?" he asked innocently. "It's all connected at the back."

It took a solid hour to get rid of all of the tape off of Fuji (Oishi did not want to see, hear about, or use duct tape ever again after this incident). When all of the sticky substance was off, Fuji stretched his arms above his head, relishing in the fact that he could now move without the tape hindering his movements.

"Anytime you're ready," Oishi said to him, referring to his wings, as he balled up the hated duct tape and threw it away. When he turned around, he was rewarded with an awesome spectacle.

Ever since Oishi had seen the picture, he had tried to imagine what the wings were like. However, no amount of thought and speculation could ever have prepared him for this. Fuji had his eyes closed as if in sleep as he concentrated his efforts on unbending his wings, hands crossed over his chest so that they rested on his shoulders in a gesture like that of a hug. There was suddenly a great rustling sound, and then white exploded from his back, taking shape to become the wings of an angel, the white feathers shining like silver under the lighting. For an instance, Oishi would even go as far as to describe Fuji as glowing.

Never in his wildest dreams had he ever _hoped _to see something like this.

Eiji clung to his arm, watching in awe as those wings unfolded, indigo eyes shining. "So… cool…" he finally whispered, almost afraid that if he spoke louder, it would all vanish.

Fuji's eyes opened, revealing intense cerulean blue that pinned the two men in its gaze. With his eyes open, Fuji didn't look fragile, like he did when he had them closed. He looked strong, mysterious, like he knew all of the world's secrets and yet still yearned for more. Oishi and Eiji were quiet, staring back, green and indigo against cerulean. Finally, Fuji smiled, closing those eyes of his and reverting back to a frailer, more angelic look. "Shall we get started, then?" he asked, smiling cheerily.

Another hour later, Oishi was finished with the physical and was finishing up with paperwork. Eiji let Fuji put his shirt back on and promptly received another shock. "Nya, Oishi…! His wings… Fujiko's wings…" He was so stunned he could barely talk in coherent sentences, and Oishi had to wait several minutes before Eiji could finally form a comprehensible sentence. "Fujiko's wings slipped through his shirt!!!" And even that left Oishi puzzled, staring at his friend like he had just grown another head.

"Slipped?" Oishi uttered, confusion etched all over his face. "What do you mean by 'slipped'?"

Eiji's face adopted a pout as he struggled to find words that could tell Oishi exactly what had happened to Fuji and his wings. "Well… they vanished… and then they materialized again outside of his shirt…?" he trailed off into a question, as if he wasn't so sure of himself all of a sudden, as well.

Fuji chuckled lightly, leaning himself comfortably against the counter. His wings spread out comfortably behind him, waving gently every now and ten. "It's easier than cutting out holes in all of my shirts and then trying to jam my wings through them," he said amiably. The one time he had tried that had ended in disaster, and Fuji was in no hurry to try it ever again. "This method just takes a bit more concentration, but it's fun making them materialize out of the material like that."

Eiji's jaw hit the floor again at Fuji's explanation. "OISHI!" he screamed, launching himself onto the other and gawking at Fuji. "FUJIKO'S MAGICAL!!!" he fairly screeched.

By the time Oishi had managed to pry Eiji off of his neck (he had had to enlist Fuji's help, which showed how tightly Eiji was glued to him) he was blue in the face and near the state of deafness. "How do you do that, Fuji-san?" Oishi asked, incredulous despite himself, patting Eiji on the head as he spoke while the redhead continued to stare. He was full of surprises, it seemed.

Fuji shrugged. "It's just something I've always been able to do. I like to think of it as I have telekinesis abilities. You know… being a physic is pretty cool."

"Impressive," Oishi breathed, scribbling this onto the margin of the physical form. No doubt Inui would find this fascinating. "Eiji, are you going to do your test?" Oishi asked, looking at the redhead.

Eiji shook his head. "No need. I've analyzed everything already," he replied. When Oishi raised a skeptical eyebrow, Eiji grinned back at him. "Oishi, you and I have different methods of analyzing things, remember, nya? As a psychologist, I don't have nearly as much paperwork to do as you, and besides, in order to obtain a clear interpretation of the mind, we need to go slowly!" He wagged a finger in Oishi's face, grinning impishly. "But I'll get the stuff done for Tezuka on time," he said cheerfully. Turning to Fuji, he latched himself happily to the winged man. "In the meantime, Fujiko and I will become best friends!"

"Does Fuji-san have a choice in the matter?"

"Not really… but it's not that bad being friends with me, right?" Eiji looked up at Oishi with big, tearful eyes, and Oishi couldn't help but laugh. No wonder Eiji became a psychologist; he made everyone around him feel at ease, like they were talking with old friends and not some unknown doctor. Even Fuji, who had tensed slightly at the mention of the word "psychologist," had relaxed while Eiji clung to him, smiling happily.

"In that case, I'll go find Tezuka and Inui, and Eiji will escort you to your room," Oishi said to Fuji, picking up his paperwork. "I'll see you at dinner, then." Giving the two of them a nod, he left the room with Eiji waving him off.

Once Oishi was out of the room, Eiji became serious, as did Fuji. "Fuji-san," he said slowly, not using the nickname. He gestured to a chair, and Fuji sat himself down on it. "Mou… how do I put this?" he asked softly, running a hand through his red hair. "I'll be frank with you. As a psychologist, as _your _psychologist for these next few weeks, I will be analyzing your emotions and the like down to the last thread. This simply means that we will be seeing a lot of each other over the next few weeks, or however long Project Angel will last, more so than any of the other team members."

He crossed his arms over his chest, still looking serious. "I'd like to ask you that if anything bothers you, please come to me first, if it's not too much of a problem. If you think that I cannot handle it, then you will go to Tezuka." Fuji nodded, and Eiji sighed, rubbing his temples tiredly.

"I HATE BEING SERIOUS!" he finally shouted out, looking furious. If Fuji hadn't had the gut feeling that something like this would happen, he would have toppled straight out of his chair. "It takes too much energy! It's so much easier being happy." He sighed, slumping against the wall. "But if it's for the success of the project, I suppose than being serious once in a while won't hurt, ne?" He looked up at Fuji, offering an apologetic half-smile.

Fuji smiled, standing up and holding out his hand. Eiji grasped it and pulled himself up. "Whichever works for you," Fuji said easily. He quite liked this Kikumaru Eiji, to say the truth. Whether or not he was serious or his usually carefree self, he was always straightforward, hiding nothing. "Is something else bothering you?" he asked, feeling that something else was gnawing at the edge of the redhead's conscience. Eiji turned his head to Fuji before sighing once again.

"I'm sorry, Fuji," he said softly. "I'm really, really sorry. Because in the end, I don't think any of us will be able to do much to help you."

Fuji tilted his head to the side, not looking in the least bit surprised. "Thank you," he said, meaning every word he said. "Thank you for not sugar-coating your words like everyone else do."

Eiji felt terrible, but finally managed to squeeze out a tiny, "You're welcome." Fuji smiled softly, a sorrowful little smile, before hooking his arm through Eiji's and letting Eiji lead him to his new quarters.

* * *

A/N: You know, Eiji is the type of person who could be extremely serious when he wants to be, but will complain that it takes too much effort. That's why he'd be so great as a psychologist, don't you think?

And I'm sorry for those RyoSaku haters, I just had to throw in Sakuno. Even though Sakuno is such a small character, she's in virtually every single episode, so it just didn't feel right to leave her out of this. So she's the nurse who mans the front desk. Actually, I have plans for her in the future. *evil snicker* I think I'll leave out Tomoka, though... she's too loud for her own good.

Please **read and review**! Is anyone too OOC? Is something confusing and you need clarification? I won't know unless you hit that litt green button and review! So, as always, please **REVIEW**!!!  
Thank you.

Ah... right... before I forget. This is going to be a TezFuji (Perfect Pair) fic. But that part comes... later. XP


	3. Test 2 – Broken Kingdom

**_Test 2 – Broken Kingdom_**

Fuji sighed as he slumped down onto his bed, bouncing himself up and down several times on the springy mattress as he stared at the ceiling above him. Dinner had passed by uneventfully, with just idle chatter between Fuji and the rest of the team, although Tezuka had remained silent throughout the entire exchange.

Fuji had found his attention unconsciously straying to the silent man time and time again. He could not quite identify why it did so, and it was beginning to vex him. Fuji liked it when he knew why he was doing things.

_Tezuka… Kunimitsu…_

He ran the name over in his mind as he turned over to face the wall, frowning slightly. It ran smoothly off of his tongue, and reminded him briefly about sucking on an ice cube. His wings rustled as he shifted their position so that they couldn't get crushed under his weight. _I feel like I've met him before somewhere…_

Cerulean eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. _Either way… I refuse to break easily. You will have to try very hard to make me, researchers._

Satisfied with this resolution of his, he closed his eyes and shifted to his position to his back. Sleep was not far from claiming him.

***

"Welcome, welcome! It's been so long since you last came here, _Master Fuji_!" There is a strong emphasis on the last two words, and the whole sentence is spoken in a voice that is dripping with sarcasm, coated with venom.

Fuji jerks awake, sitting up, instantly wary, although there is a slight edge of panic in those cerulean orbs of his. He was in the middle of an endless expanse of black and gray. Here and there rose the ruins of buildings, and a dense black fog rolled along the parched ground, shrouding everything that was on it from his view. He was here… he was back…

And his still sleep-clogged mind could tell him that he _did not want to be here_.

"Couldn't wait to come back, could you, Master?" The voice changed, no longer harsh and laced with poison but purring, almost, and Fuji knew that that was worse than if he had knives piercing his skin at that moment. Against his best efforts, he shivered, and a small whimper escaped him.

"Don't do that, Master… why look like a lost puppy when you are capable of _more_?" The speaker, Fuji's tormentor, disentangled itself from the shadows and stood in front of Fuji. "Ah… my manners," it purred softly. "I shouldn't talk to you like this, where I'm looking down on you." He squatted down so that he was eyelevel with Fuji and smirked. "I surprise you every time, don't I?" he asked, clearly satisfied with the reaction he got. "When are you going to accept the fact that you can't do anything? You're powerless, Fuji."

He was an exact copy of Fuji, with dark brown hair that hung down in soft strands and blue eyes that bore into Fuji's. He carried a pair of wings, as well, jet black, and always smiled cruelly. Nothing amused him more than seeing Fuji cringe in terror before him, and he knew full well that no matter how hard Fuji tried to keep the shattered bits of his wit about him, he would always fall apart when faced with him.

"I am you," he purred, reaching out and cupping Fuji's chin in his hand, caressing the line of his jaw gently with a finger, "and you are me. We are one and the same. I was born from the figments of your broken soul, Master." His eyes narrowed as his hand shifted down Fuji's throat, tracing a finger on the pale skin where collarbone and neck met, tracing his name, 'Fuji Syusuke' onto that soft skin. "Fuji, no one can save you. You are beyond salvation of any kind."

Fuji shuddered once more and then shoved the other's hand away, climbing slowly to his feet. "Why am I here?" he asked deliberately ignoring the previous remark about his salvation. His voice was hoarse, almost like he had been screaming nonstop beforehand. Perhaps, at one time, he had. He couldn't remember now.

His counterpart threw back his head and laughed; one that was without mirth and that Fuji didn't like. "Why are you here?" he asked, smirking at Fuji. "While I'd love to say that it was because you missed me, that's not the case. You're here because you're insecure in yourself."

He leaned close to Fuji, still smirking. "Despite the promises you make to yourself about not breaking, you've already broken. You've broken a long time ago, Fuji, do not deny it." His eyes glinted as he took Fuji's elbow and started to lead the other forward, smirk never leaving h is face.

"Ne, Fuji… remember the first time you came here?" he asked, his voice strangely nostalgic. "There were a lot more light areas, but they've receded until there's nothing left. This kingdom of yours has fallen into despair, just like you."

"And your point is..?"

Fuji's darker double glanced over his shoulder at Fuji, looking bored. "It's no fun having a master that doesn't even try to right himself," he said simply. "In this case, I think I'll step in and help you a bit. Of course, it'll be _my_ kind of help." Fuji bristled instinctively, not liking the way this conversation was going at all.

Removing his hand from Fuji's elbow, he turned so that he faced Fuji in the face, holding out his hand. Fuji felt the hair on the back of his neck rise as he watched warily, eyes narrowed. "Shall I begin?" he asked, eyes turning a deathly shade of indigo. "Scream nice and loud then, Master Fuji," he murmured softly, moving his hand forward in a sudden motion. There was a rumbling sound, and then the fog rose up from the ground, forming long ropes that shot forward, binding themselves around Fuji's arms and legs. They tightened painfully as Fuji struggled, growling as he realized that he couldn't get out of his tight bindings.

"Not enough yet, Master Fuji… I haven't heard you scream, yet…"

They tightened even further, climbing up his upper body until they threatened to strangle him. Fuji bit the inside of his cheek in an attempt at not to make any sound, even though he knew full well that as soon as he screamed loud enough he'd be released. He still had pride, despite everything that he went through, and his pride wouldn't permit it if he went down without a fight.

"You won't last much longer," his counterpart noted dryly, leaning back against one of the ruins. "Don't prolong the inevitable. It's stupid to do that."

And Fuji couldn't help himself. He screamed, and his torment continued, the bindings continuing to constrict around his body and his screams becoming louder and louder until finally, finally… his voice broke and he was allowed to slump to the ground, completely exhausted and shaking all over, his blue eyes opened wide but unfocused as he stared at nothing.

***

Tezuka was not one to be paranoid, but there was just something that was bothering him all of that night after he had retired to his room, having finished checking the equipment with Echizen. Everything was in fine working condition, shiny and just waiting to be used. A lot of these machines were brand new models, gotten with the excessive amount of funding upper management had given to Tezuka and his team.

To this day, Tezuka wasn't entirely sure if that was a good thing, or an invitation for disaster.

The brown-haired man was laying no his bed, one hand on his face, pinching the bridge of his nose tiredly. His glasses were folded and placed neatly on his nightstand, next to a glass of water and a pill case. Tezuka was prone to headaches, sharp, aching migraines that came on and off without warning, and had taken to the habit of carrying aspirins around with him wherever he went. There was always the water at his bedside in case he woke up at, say, three in the morning, with one of those head-splitting megrims (he had not quite mastered the art of swallowing a pill without liquid).

Oishi said that he got those because he worked himself too hard. Tezuka was always a responsible man, and was a hard worker on top of that. He worked himself harder than anyone else, and from himself he expected only perfection. It was through this method that he had completed high school, had aced college with flying colors, and was now the leader of his team of researchers.

Anything less than perfection could not be tolerated; that was what his grandfather had taught him from a young age. Whenever Tezuka put his mind to doing something, he put in 120% of his effort into it. His teachers had praised him for this trait of his, his family had been proud of this, and his classmates had been jealous.

Oishi had simply looked at him, shook his head several times, and told him to rest every once in a while.

In the darkness of his room, Tezuka allowed the rare smile to sneak across his face. Bless Oishi. He was always looking out for the welfare of his friends. Tezuka was glad that he could call Oishi his friend, considering all of the times he had collapsed in front of him, victim to his headaches, even when Oishi had specifically told him that rest was needed. Each time he woke up, he would be tucked into bed (or under a blanket on the sofa in Oishi's apartment) with a worried Oishi fussing over him, and then the young doctor would lecture him sternly on the benefits of resting and heeding the words of doctors, to which Tezuka would do his best to appear _slightly_ guilty (but of course, failing every time).

It surprised Tezuka that Oishi had yet to explode on him, considering all of the trouble he gave him, whether intentional or not.

A scream rent through the still air suddenly, and Tezuka jolted up, fumbling for his glasses, nearly tipping over the glass of water in his haste. Locating his glasses, he placed them on his nose and watched as the fuzzy world became clear. Sitting up in his bed, with his head tilted slightly to the side, he listened, his whole body tensed, for another scream, but none came.

_Kunimitsu, this is what they say when they're talking about someone losing their mind,_ Tezuka scolded himself, sighing and relaxing his tensed shoulders. _You're tired… it's best to rest like Oishi said._ He had started to remove his glasses from his face when the scream sounded again, louder, shriller. He jammed the glasses back onto his face, nearly poking his eye out in the process, and jumped out of bed. In the dark, he located his plastic slippers and stood, walking to his door in brisk steps and opening it.

The hallway was quiet; it had seemed that no one else had heard those screams. He really was beginning to lose his mind, it seemed. Frowning, Tezuka glanced left and right before stepping out into the hall, shutting his bedroom door behind him with a soft click, always on the alert for another scream. Part of him was praying that it was simply an illusion that his ears were conjuring up, and that he could slip back into his bed and sleep after a few moments, but the more rational part of his brain knew that it wasn't an illusion. The scream had been too real, had been weighted down by too much fear, to be something that _wasn't_ real.

He didn't have to wait long; it did not take more than a few seconds for the scream to sound once again, and Tezuka identified it as coming from Fuji's room. He started forward, marching purposefully towards the room. His hand was already on the doorknob when he paused, all of a sudden not so sure about this whole thing. It was rude to barge into someone's room… a person's room was their sanctuary, and should only be entered when given permission.

Tezuka was waging this internal moral war with himself when the scream came once again. The voice was becoming hoarse and strained, and now that he was this close, he could hear the whimpers that came after it. Pushing aside his doubts, he twisted the knob and threw open the door, walking into the room.

Fuji was curled up into a tight ball on his side, shuddering visibly. He was breathing harshly, and the wings he wore were stretched out awkwardly behind him, a couple feathers sticking out sharply or having fallen out altogether, proof that he had been struggling in his sleep against some unknown force. The coverlets had been kicked to the floor some time ago, becoming a rumpled heap next to the bed.

Fuji's body tensed without warning, and his head jerked backwards. Tezuka could see that his eyes were squeezed tightly shut, and his face was unearthly pale. For some reason that he could not exactly place his finger on, it made his heart wrench, seeing the man in such a vulnerable state. Fuji screamed once again, and Tezuka could make out words in his screams, something along the lines of 'stop,' 'hurts,' and 'broken.'

Tezuka moved to the bed, picking up the coverlets and shaking them out, before wrapping them around Fuji's shaking body. Fuji trembled harder when Tezuka's hand touched him, until it was to the point that Tezuka feared that Fuji would end up hurting himself. _He needs to wake up,_ Tezuka decided, sitting himself on the bed and drawing Fuji to his own body, wrapping the coverlets gently but firmly around him and then enclosing him in his arms. It was awkward; Tezuka had no experience in comforting others before, because no one had ever fallen apart in front of him, before (Tezuka had a vague feeling that it was because they were afraid of him punishing them with laps, although he wondered why they would have such a notion).

"Hush," he said softly, feeling self-conscience as he reached up for Fuji's head, which was buried into his chest. His hand hovered above Fuji's hair, unsure of what to do, before descending and stroking it gently. Tezuka could dimly remember his mother doing that to him when he was a child and woke up in the middle of the night, crying from some nightmare or another (yes, yes… even Tezuka cried as a child). During those times, she would hold little Tezuka to her body in a gentle but protective embrace, stroking his hair and whispering soft reassurances. She never said that the subjects in his nightmares were gone, but had instead always said that they couldn't hurt him because she was there to protect him.

"Hush, Fuji," Tezuka murmured into the smaller man's soft hair. Gradually, the violent shaking toned down to a simple shuddering. Gradually, that, too, died down until there was no movement save for the heaving of his chest up and down as he breathed, drawing in breath in loud, ragged gulps. It struck Tezuka that it sounded a lot like sobs, huge, wracking sobs that took over one's body when faced with something intense, like a death (his mind was instantly brought over to his grandmother's funeral when he was five years old, in which his mother had broken down and sobbed, her body shaking as if it would fall apart into a thousand little pieces that glue couldn't put back together).

Fuji woke up shortly afterwards, looking dazed and confused, with aching lungs and a burning throat. His mouth was parched, and he was desperate for water. But even in this half-dazed position and nearly delirious from want of water, he could tell that he was warm, and warmth came with safety. Safety was in the form of his mother, his sister, his family and their soft words when he woke up screaming in the middle of the night. He sighed softly, instinctively snuggling back towards the source of the warmth.

Tezuka stiffened, and Fuji stopped his burrowing, as well, looking up. Blue eyes widened in shock to see Tezuka, sitting on his bed, with his arms around him. "T-tezuka-san…" Fuji finally stuttered out, looking fearful. "I… I'm…" He stopped trying to speak and instead tried to claw his way away from Tezuka. His moment of tranquility was gone, shattered. "Please let go!" he begged, the fear once again creeping into his voice.

Tezuka frowned when he heard this, and instead tightened his grip on Fuji, looking puzzled. "What's wrong?" he asked, not letting the other go, no matter how hard he struggled (Tezuka took several blows from Fuji's fists, although Fuji hadn't put much thought into them, so they didn't hurt that badly). Soon, Fuji gave up, utterly exhausted, and collapsed against Tezuka's strong chest. "Fuji-san, if something is bothering you, please tell me," Tezuka ordered, trying to speak as softly as he could so that he could still be heard but wouldn't startle Fuji more than he already was. He would definitely have to tell Eiji about this tomorrow morning… as a psychologist, Eiji would know how to best approach the situation and soothe Fuji. He put it onto his mental list of things to do.

"Tight," Fuji choked out, and Tezuka blinked, trying to decide if Fuji was referring to his dream or about Tezuka's hold on him. "The darkness was chaining me… it was too tight… it hurt a lot… and I screamed. He wouldn't let me go until I… until I…" He buried his face into Tezuka's chest, clutching tightly at the thin material of his shirt. "I don't want to go back," he mumbled into Tezuka's chest. "Don't make me go back. Please don't make me go back!"

Tezuka blinked, and then frowned, lost in the midst of Fuji's words. "Go back where?" he asked, rather bluntly.

Fuji's grip on him tightened until Tezuka feared that Fuji would rip his shirt to pieces. His voice was terribly small when he spoke again:

"Don't make me go back to my broken kingdom."

***

"Good morning, good morning!" Eiji was happy as he bounced into the cafeteria the next morning, refreshed after his night of fitful sleeping. Eiji had gotten a new pillow, and it was _always _great to sleep on a new pillow. He nearly crashed straight into Tezuka as he continued his happy bouncing. "Oh! Good morning, Tezuka!" he said happily, until he noticed Tezuka's strained expression. "Nya… what's wrong, Tezuka?" he asked, looking curiously up at the other man. "You look tired… did you not get enough sleep last night?"

Oishi looked up from his meal, instantly worried. "Did you get one of those headaches again?" he asked worriedly, leaving his food and standing up. "If so, maybe it'd be best if you went back to bed…"

Tezuka shook his head. "I didn't have a headache, but thanks for asking," he said shortly. "Kikumaru!"

Eiji stood sharply to attention. "Hai!" he said, throwing in a sharp salute.

Tezuka looked like he wanted to say something, but hesitated. "What can trigger someone to waking up in the middle of the night, screaming until their whole body is spent?"

"Huh?" The rest of his team stared at him in confusion, although Eiji frowned, instantly understanding.

"It's Fujiko, isn't it?" Eiji asked. "Where is he, now?"

"Sleeping," Tezuka muttered, sliding into his seat. It had taken Tezuka two whole hours to calm the smaller man down to the point where he could go back to sleep, and even then, he was woken up repeatedly as Fuji made repeated journeys to his 'broken kingdom.' Even now, he was expecting his temporary peace to be shattered by a piercing scream, and the very thought of it made him sigh and rub his temple tiredly. Before Oishi could launch into his 'you-need-more-sleep!' tirade, Tezuka was speaking again.

"Fuji-san keeps saying something about a 'Broken Kingdom.' Apparently, in this place of his, there is someone who torments him and won't let him go until he is tortured enough." Tezuka sighed, resting his elbows on the table and lacing his fingers together before placing his chin onto his hands. "He was screaming all night, last night. And he shakes… shakes like there is no tomorrow. It gets to the point where one worries that he'll hurt himself."

The rest of the team glanced at each other with worry evident in their eyes. "That bad, huh?" Momo asked. "We should probably—"

"Everyone's up already? Gomen… I must have slept late." Heads whipped upwards and towards the door to find Fuji at the doorway, smiling like usual. He looked fine, Tezuka noted, and his skin had returned to a healthy color (Fuji was always a bit on the pale side, he would have to admit). There were no dark circles under his eyes, so Tezuka assumed that he had not reentered the 'broken kingdom' after Tezuka had left his room at four o'clock that morning.

_That's a relief._

Taka stood up from his seat and ushered Fuji forward. The man obeyed, taking the sushi maker's seat as Taka bustled into the adjourning kitchen. "What would you like for breakfast, Fuji-san?" he asked over his shoulder, starting the stove. "Toast? Omelet? I think we have enough eggs for an omelet…"

"Hmm… I'll take toast. Thank you very much," Fuji piped up cheerfully. "But, please call me 'Fuji,' and not 'Fuji-san.' 'Fuji-san' makes me feel old, and I'm not _that_ old, last I checked." A cheeky smile spread over his face as Taka reappeared with the toast and a good selection of jam. For the next few minutes, Fuji amused himself with selecting a jam… or two or three… to spread onto his piece of toast. "What?" he asked innocently when he felt eyes on his breakfast. "It's boring putting only one kind of jam onto toast. Putting a lot more spices it up. Which reminds me… do you have wasabi?"

"You… want to put wasabi on… toast…?" Kaidoh asked, incredulous. His eyes looked like they were going to fall out of his head. He finished his sentence with his signature hiss, although it faltered halfway in the middle and sputtered out like a fire does when one pours water over it.

Fuji shrugged, taking a big bite out of his heavily laden slice of bread. "Uh weike wasabi," he mumbled through a mouthful of food. Swallowing, he repeated himself: "I like wasabi," and proceeded to lick the sticky jam off of his fingers.

"Well, wasabi in small amounts _is_ good, like on sushi," Taka offered.

Fuji shook his head. "That's too little. You need a lot of wasabi in order to fully appreciate the goodness of the spice!" Fuji popped the rest of the toast into his mouth and chewed happily. "I think I'll have to make a stop to the supermarket and buy a tube of wasabi. Then you can all learn how great wasabi is!" There was a collective gulp around the table.

Tezuka cleared his throat, fearing that his teammates would drop dead with fright in the next few seconds if he didn't do something to deter Fuji from going to the supermarket and carrying out his threat. "Fuji-san," he started.

"Just Fuji is fine."

"Ah… Fuji," Tezuka tried again, and Fuji turned his head to face him, tongue swiping out to lick some jam off of the side of his mouth. "Fuji, you won't be able to leave the research institute. So it looks like you won't be able to go to the market and buy wasabi." _The nearest supermarket is forty-five minutes away by car, anyway,_ he added in his head. _It's right around where Inui has his apartment, if I recall correctly._

Fuji's face fell momentarily before it perked up again. "Well, then… someone else can go and get my wasabi for me!" he announced. Faces paled; Fuji just didn't give up, did he?

"That… is out of the question. No one will be dying of an overdose of wasabi while I'm heading this team."

There was a huge sigh of relief as the rest of the team realized that they're lives would be spared, thanks to Tezuka. What a nice team leader he was…

Tezuka stood, pushing aside his uneaten breakfast. "Inui," he announced. The data master looked up, pushing his glasses up to a firmer position. "Take Kaidoh and start a lab right now. Oishi, take Fuji to one of the check-up rooms and take a blood test. We'll begin with an analysis of the basics before moving to the bigger machines. Kikumaru, take Momoshiro and Echizen and prepare the machine in room C3."

Echizen looked surprised. "That one? The one that measures brain waves or memory signals or something like that? We're jumping in awfully fast, aren't we, buchou?" he asked. "Besides, we never learned how to operate that machine."

"Kikumaru knows how to do it. He'll teach you," was Tezuka's answer, short and to the point. "Kawamura, you and I will check on the machine in room C7." Taka nodded, although he looked uneasy. The machine whose home was room C7 was an intimidating structure that sent gentle to harsh electrical signals through a subject to measure impulse rates and pain-tolerance levels. They had never used it before, but Taka had heard that it was a highly dangerous tool sometimes used in place of an electrical chair for… other institutions…

"We're not using the high settings, are we?" he voiced out timidly.

Tezuka shook his head. "Of course not. I capped it so that the highest it goes is between low and medium. Fuji shouldn't feel more than a tingling most of the time. The worst it will get is a quick shock, like when you touch a metal substance, like a car door, and shock yourself on the finger, only doubled." Taka nodded, relieved. Even when doubled, the pain felt wasn't much, and it would only last for a quick instant.

"Thank goodness," he sighed as he followed Tezuka. In a few minutes, the cafeteria was empty, all of them having gone to do Tezuka's biddings.

Day One of Project Angel had officially begun.

* * *

A/N: I heard there was a machine that they use to keep track of your memory... I think they show you a picture or something like that, and you're hook up to the machine with wires. Supposedly, the machine can tell which part of the brain reacts to the image, and then people operating the machine can then use it as evidence. I think it's like a truth detector. Last I heard of it, they were still developing it. Any information on it will be gladly appreciated for the authenticity of this fic *coughs...* Eheh...

The machine that sends the electric impulses was made up. I _don't_ think it exists (although it just might... you know... in some mad scientist's basement labratory...) and I _don't_ think that it is used in place of the electric chair.

A vulnerable Fuji is interesting, don't you think? Anyone want to guess he's going to fix his broken kingdom?

Please **review**! Thank you!


	4. Test 3 – Sleep

**_Test 3 – Sleep_**

Fuji held out his arm and rested it on the counter while Oishi prepared his equipment. Oishi's hands were gentle, yet firm, as he wiped down the area where he wanted to insert the needle with a gauze pad soaked in some substance Fuji could not make out.

Then came the needle.

Fuji watched it warily, almost like a mouse watches a cat that's trying to stalk it, as Oishi brought its tip close to his skin. He tensed, and Oishi paused, frowning. "Fuji, relax. This is only going to hurt for a moment… I'm not draining you of every single drop of blood in your body or anything," the doctor said, patting him on the shoulder. Sighing, Fuji forced himself to relax, and Oishi proceeded on with his task. The needle went into Fuji's pale skin, and Fuji flinched slightly (it stung… like he was being bitten by a large, pesky insect), but his attention was quickly diverted when he watched the needle draw out some of his blood. It was a rich, crimson color, bubbling up in the needle. Fuji watched it, fascinated, until Oishi removed the needle and stuck a bandage onto the spot (it was blue with stars on it; Fuji liked it quite a bit).

"I'm surprised," Oishi mused, capping the needle and setting it aside on a tray to prevent it from being tipped over. "Most people become so queasy from seeing their own blood that we're afraid that they're going to keel over in a dead faint. This is the first time I've seen someone fascinated by it." He smiled at Fuji as he stood up. "But personally, I'm glad you're not the screaming kind. They always come with such good vocal chords, they always destroy your eardrums and you become deaf for the next two days."

Fuji's mouth quirked into a bemused smile as he listened. "Really? I'm glad I didn't cause any trouble, then." He had already caused enough trouble for Tezuka, he didn't want to bother any more people than he absolutely had to. But, he knew that the whole team was worried about him. He had been standing right outside the door to the cafeteria that morning, listening in while Tezuka informed the rest of his team about that night. His cheeks burned from the shame… of all people to find out, it had to be Tezuka. Fuji wished that he could melt into a puddle and evaporate and then have some grand adventure over the rest of the world as a molecule of water.

"Um… Fuji… this may seem as a personal question, but I'm curious." Fuji tilted his head to the side as he looked at Oishi, giving him a nod to continue. "In your family, is there a history of any mental diseases, such as schizophrenia or the like?" Fuji thought a bit before shaking his head. His little brother, Yuuta, was headstrong and stubborn (but undeniably cute…). His sister, Yumiko, was talented and beautiful (and chased after by many suitors, giving Yuuta and him quite a lot of trouble keeping them away). His mother, Yoshiko, was a typical Japanese housewife and extra kind to boot. His father was a foreign based employee who had left when Fuji was six years old for work. Fuji hadn't seen his father in a long time, although he had heard that he'd be returning to Japan sometime in the next two weeks. They were all pretty normal and sane, as was his grandparents, and his great-grandparents, although every single one of them had a sadistic streak to them.

"Being sadistic doesn't count as having a mental disease, right?" Fuji asked, just to make sure.

Oishi looked surprised, but shook his head. "No… sadistic is personality wise. I'm talking about something that needs medication to either control it or cure it." Hearing that, Fuji shook his head. No one in his family took medications. "Oh… I see," Oishi murmured, picking up his tray. "Well, no matter. Thank you for considering it." He ushered Fuji out of the room and trotted down the hall, Fuji following doggedly at his heels. "I believe you have three hours until the first tests begin. You may do whatever you like, but restrict yourself to the third and fourth floors. There is the rooftop you can go to; it's surrounded by mesh fences and has several benches and tables to sit at. Please don't fly, don't try any suicidal attempts, and the like. Am I clear?"

"Hai, Okaa-sama!" Fuji said cheekily, causing Oishi to stop suddenly, looking flustered. Fuji pulled himself up to a sharp stop, still grinning mischievously. "What's wrong?" he asked innocently, although his smile was anything but innocent.

"No… nothing's wrong… except for the fact that I just think that I heard you call me 'mother'."

"Oh, but I _did _call you 'mother'!" was Fuji's cheerfully constructed response. Oishi drooped, wondering what kind of character Fuji really was. _'Mother'… am I really that much of a 'mother'?_ This notion bugged him, and he absentmindedly bid Fuji farewell and entered the lab room that Inui and Kaidoh had erected for themselves, the door swinging gently shut behind him as he did so.

Fuji grinned, laughing to himself as he brought back Oishi's shocked expression into his mind's eye. Ah… Oishi was fun to tease. He'd have to do some more later on. He tilted his head to one side, his wings gently moving forward and back as he glanced down the empty hallway. Oishi had mentioned a rooftop… and Fuji decided that it would be a good idea if he went up to get some fresh air. So… now the only question that remained was: where was the staircase up to the roof?

He wandered around the hall, peeking into any unoccupied and unlocked door as he ambled along. Several rooms were conference rooms, having an assortment of different tables, horseshoe shaped, rectangular, circular, and elliptical, surrounded by chairs with a sleeping projector that was waiting to be turned on and used. There were a couple of examination rooms, consisting of a padded counter, a few chairs, a sink and cupboards, and other various equipment that doctors would find use for. Then, there were the lab rooms, with black counters and glass cupboards filled with instruments needed to successfully complete of chemical lab.

But the rooms that both fascinated Fuji and scared him were the ones who held machines. The third floor of the research institute held most of the testing machines, while the fourth floor housed their rooms, a well supplied clinic manned expertly by Oishi, the cafeteria, and other facilities such as a small pool and fitness room. Keeping a wide berth of the rooms that he knew were occupied by the members of the research team, Fuji poked his head into the other rooms. They were imposing structures… those machines; huge, silent hunks of metal with glass doors and wires that seemed to tell him: 'you will be connected to me very, very shortly, Fuji Syusuke.' Most of these machines Fuji had seen before, but a few were new, and Fuji had the conflicting feelings of shutting the door with a loud bang and high-tailing it away from the room or stepping into the room to explore around the machine and hope that it didn't become alive and attack him.

In the end, he finally managed to tear himself away from those machines that tried to pull him in and push away at the same time, and continued again on his journey to find the stairs (or the elevator… now that he thought about it, both would serve his purpose quite well). Not managing to find the elevator but managing instead to locate the stairway, he trotted up the two flights of stairs and opened the door onto the rooftop, breathing in a deep breath of fresh air. _Hello, fresh, clean air!_

He fairly skipped over to the mesh fence, peeking out through the chains. His face brightened into a brilliant smile as he took in the surrounding area. The wide expanse of green fields looked so fun to fly over, and the occasional clump of wildflowers added a pretty splash of color to the seemingly endless expanse of green that was only broken by the highway.

_It's a pity,_ Fuji thought, leaning forward onto the fence and opening his blue eyes. He stared wistfully out at the fields, his wings opening and closing gently behind him, enjoying the feeling of the wind caressing his white feathers. _I wish I could fly… it was mean of Oishi to restrict me._ Although he couldn't fly far in the first place because his wings couldn't support his weight for long flights, he liked going high up into the sky and watching as everything grew smaller. Fuji enjoyed the feeling of the cold and the way the air was so much fresher up there.

He pushed himself off of the fence and turned around to look at the rest of the rooftop. True to Oishi's word, there were several benches and tables, but he didn't quite feel like sitting at them. Instead, he sat himself on the ground, hugging his knees to his chest as he stared at the sky, picking out fun-shaped clouds. There was one that looked like an eagle, and another one that looked like a goldfish…

It didn't take long for Fuji to sprawl out on his back, since craning his head upwards to see the clouds caused an annoying pain in the back of his neck. Fuji relaxed, spreading his arms out so that he became a little star, smiling happily up at the sky. It wasn't long before he was slumbering peacefully, a tiny smile on his lips, his head tilted gently to the side so that his cheek rested against the floor.

When Eiji opened the door to the rooftop, that was how he found Fuji, lying on the ground sleeping like there wasn't a care in the world. Eiji grinned, leaning comfortably against the doorframe. It would be a shame to wake him up, but it needed to be done.

Stepping forward, he knelt at Fuji's head, shaking his shoulder gently. "Fujiko-chan… time to wake up…"

Fuji shifted, looking up at him, blinking the last bits of sleep away from his eyes. "Ah… time already?" he asked lazily, stretching like a cat. He pushed himself into a sitting position, rubbing the back of his head.

Standing, he finished his stretching at a leisurely pace before turning to Eiji. There was a large smile on his face, and Fuji practically radiated an air of confidence. "Let's go!" he offered cheerfully, and Eiji grinned back, turning back to enter the building with Fuji trotting energetically behind him.

***

Echizen was in a sulky mood when Eiji and Fuji entered the room that he and Momo had been situated in. The two were seated in chairs facing each other, waging a silent war. "Eiji-sempai!" Echizen whined as soon as the redhead walked into the room, his head whipping to the side to look at his superior. "Do I have to do this with _him_?" he asked, jabbing his thumb at Momo, a look of extreme irritation on his face.

Eiji tipped his head to one side, an eyebrow raised in interest. "Hoi? What happened, nya?" he asked curiously, pulling up two chairs and gesturing for Fuji to take a seat. When it came to internal arguments, Eiji knew that it could take awhile. "Give us some time, Fuji," he said to the brunet as he sat down, giving him a wink which was returned with a smile. "So… let's start from the beginning. What exactly happened, nya?" He sounded like a parent trying to get to the roots of the mischief his children had caused (which was rather ironic, considering that Eiji would probably be the one hatching all of the plans of mischief for his children, had he been a parent).

Echizen pointed to Momo, his sulk still present on his face. "Momo-sempai was fiddling needlessly with the machine," he tattled.

Momo twitched, glaring at his junior. "I was not fiddling needlessly with it!" he retorted. "Eiji-sempai told us to warm up the machine! I was just following orders!"

"Pushing random buttons on the machine doesn't count as warming it up!"

"Why, you--! Say that again---!"

Eiji sighed dramatically, shaking his head. "Now, now, everyone… let's calm down," he offered. "We are civilized people who do no fight among ourselves." Had Eiji had his way, he would have liked to see how this argument would have gone. However, Tezuka would most certainly be on his tail if he did so, so he had to stop it. _What a waste of good entertainment,_ he thought with another sigh. _They don't come cheap, these days…_ "Now, which buttons did you press, Momo?"

"Uh… let's see… I used the lever, I pressed the big green button, the big red button next to it, and a lot of the keypad buttons," Momo recalled, a finger placed on his chin and his head tilted backwards as he thought back to the buttons he pressed. "Oh, yeah… there was also a little button on the side that I pressed."

Eiji nodded sagely as he listened, his arms folded over his chest. Personally, he was surprised that the machine hadn't broken down with all the buttons he had pushed. But that must have been the beauty of the fact that the machine hadn't been turned on. "Nya… if I'm to say anything, it's probably going to be that you two should have turned the machine on before attempting to warm it up." He grinned at the flushed looks that appeared on both of their faces as they realized that they had failed to turn the machine on, and Fuji chuckled, looking rather bemused at this mistake. "Either way, I'll warm it up now. Momo, we'll go over the buttons again, so that you won't press so many buttons and cause a possible meltdown of the machine. Replacing it will be a hassle. O'ochibi, take Fuji to room C7, and tell Tezuka and Taka-san that we're going to postpone this test for later." He stood and gave a short bow to Fuji. "Sorry for the inconvenience, nya," he apologized, ignoring Echizen's visible twitch as he was called 'O'ochibi,' and the look of irritation that appeared across Momo's face as Eiji attacked him on his button-pushing.

"It's fine," Fuji said cheerily, standing, ignoring the twitch and irritation, as well. "Shall we, then, Echizen-kun?" he asked as the younger man stood up and led the way out of the room, his hands thrust deeply into his pockets.

"In here," he said nonchalantly, opening the door to room C7 and ushering Fuji into the room. "Buchou, Kawamura-sempai," he said, giving a nod of his head to his two superiors.

Tezuka looked up from the computer he was seated at, returning his nod with one of his own. "Ah," was his response. Taka was a bit more enthusiastic in his response, waving at them and getting out two chairs for them to sit in. "Has Kikumaru finished his test?" Tezuka asked, returning his attention to his computer as Fuji and Echizen sat themselves down in the chairs.

Echizen shook his head. "Eiji-sempai's warming up the machine because Momo-sempai forgot to turn the machine on." He tactfully left out the fact that he had forgotten, as well, but Tezuka picked up on it, anyway. Ryoma could just imagine the laps he would have to run around the institute for this, and drooped, sighing. "Eiji-sempai also said that that test was going to be performed at a later date and that we should start with this one." He threw the machine that lived in this room a distrustful glance and slouched in his seat, awaiting his fate.

Tezuka simply "Hn"-ed at his computer screen, typing a few more things into it. "Kawamura, get Inui and Kaidoh and see if their lab is finished. If it is, have them come here. We could use Inui's data to our advantage, and Kaidoh can help Kikumaru and Momoshiro." Taka nodded and left the room, and Tezuka saved whatever it was he had been working on, standing up. "Echizen, get up and help. You're no use slouching in the chair."

"Hai…" Echizen pushed himself up off of his chair and edged cautiously to the machine.

Fuji raised an eyebrow curiously. "Is the machine really that dangerous?" he asked. This was one of the machines that he had never encountered before, but Echizen was being quite wary around it, and even Tezuka had a slight aura of wariness about him.

Tezuka pushed his glasses up his nose, contemplating the machine. "If not used correctly, then yes. This could easily be one of the most dangerous we have with us. Fuji, if you would please." He opened the side door, which revealed a compartment big enough for a full-grown man. Wires hung from the ceiling, with the ends having a special tape on it so that they could connect to the person in the compartment. Fuji padded obediently into the compartment and stood still while Tezuka attached the wires to his body. One went on each wrist, another one went on each upper arm. Fuji rolled up his pants so that Tezuka could attach two to each leg. Then there were two for his head, one on either side. Tezuka's hands were sure and firm as he went about his task, and Fuji entertained himself with the notion he was one of the people who acted out the motions for a movie after taking a look at himself when he was all attached.

Tezuka looked seriously at him, and Fuji stared back at him and Echizen. "If it starts to hurt too much… if the pain becomes anything more than a tingle, shout out at once," Tezuka instructed. "Do you understand?" Fuji nodded to show that, yes, he understood perfectly well, and Tezuka shut the door, securing the latch. Fuji shifted around, looking around his compartment. He could see Echizen through the glass, and he could see Tezuka at the control panel, and he knew that they could see him, as well. The compartment itself had very little, except for the wires and a few empty shelves. The only think that irked him was the lack of chairs. One would think that the manufacturers would have installed a chair for the subject's comfort. Fuji huffed and planted his hands on his hips as he realized that he would be standing throughout this whole test.

_I don't want to stand,_ he whined to himself. Echizen held up his hand with his thumb up, and Fuji stopped complaining to himself to relax his muscles and adjust his breathing to as normal as possible. When Echizen gave a nod to Tezuka, the older man started the machine.

The first thing that happened to Fuji was a faint tingling that rode through his whole body. He glanced curiously down at himself and the wires that were connected to him. _Saa… a machine that sends electrical impulses,_ he thought, mildly intrigued. _Haven't done this test yet,_ he added to himself, lifting his head so that he stared straight ahead.

The second thing that happened to Fuji was the sudden, sharp, jolting pain that ripped through his body. He gasped, and opened his mouth to say something as he had been instructed by Tezuka, only to find that his throat was constricting and he couldn't get any sound out. However, the jolting pain faded away, and was replaced instead with the tingling sensation he had first felt, so he relaxed.

Fuji knew that something was wrong when the jolting suddenly increased in frequency and power, and when he saw Tezuka bend sharply over the control panel, saying something sharply to Echizen, who hurried over to him, and to Inui, who had just entered the room and followed Echizen's lead. All three of them were crowded around the control panel, reading the data it displayed with emotionless masks, although Fuji could see that all three were tensed up. An unexplainable fear coursed through Fuji and he tensed as well, watching them like a cat watches its prey.

The pain jolted through his body again, and he stiffened, gritting his teeth. He couldn't make a sound, and little dots of color were beginning to dance in the corner of his vision. _Why? Why?_ Fuji gulped, forcing himself to focus on a particular spot on the wall behind Tezuka's head. Tezuka and the other researchers wouldn't deliberately try to hurt him, would they? He panicked at the thought of it, imagining Tezuka, Inui, and Echizen laughing manically over his dead body.

_Mou… that's a bit too extreme, isn't it? If they had wanted to hurt me, you'd think that they'd act more coldly towards me. But Eiji is really nice to me, and Tezuka watches out for me, so they can't be all that bad, can they?_

He closed his eyes for a moment as he mulled over this, before a soft voice purred in his ear, "Are you coming, Master Fuji?" His head snapped up and whipped around, eyes wide, only to find nothing. _Saa… now I'm losing my mind because I'm being paranoid, _he scolded himself. _Get a grip, Syusuke. This is just a test; in a few minutes you'll be released and it will be like nothing happened._ He nodded firmly at his resolution, and the voice chose that moment to speak again:

"Master," it whined, and Fuji stiffened again. If he hadn't been paranoid then, he was now. Only one voice called him 'Master'… "Master Fuji… come _on_. Stop staying in this stupid little compartment! Our little, dark kingdom is so much better!"

_I quite like this compartment when compared to my kingdom, thank you,_ Fuji found himself thinking in response to that voice, looking nervously at a spot right above his shoulder.

"Master Fuji is so cold! Don't make me drag you there! I'm fully capable of doing that, you know." Fuji shivered, knowing full well that he was. "Besides, even if the machine is acting normally, _you_ are certainly not. You're only supposed to feel a slight tingling sensation with each test, not the jolting pains you've been experiencing. I estimate two more of those and you'll be out like a light, Master."

_You'd like that, wouldn't you?_

"Yes… and no… I suppose." The voice hesitated for a moment and Fuji endured another of those annoying painful pains, rendering him shaking and panting lightly. "You know, you can come early," the voice reproached him. "That would save me the waiting." Fuji fought down the urge to snap at the voice… just barely.

The second jolt came, and Fuji sank to the ground, cursing his luck. The last thing he heard was the voice of his tormenter, saying gleefully something along the lines of: "I'm glad you _finally_ decided to join me," in a voice that was dripping in sarcasm.

And Fuji vowed, as he slipped off into his unwanted darkness, that if ever his tormenter decided to step over into the world of the sane, Fuji would beat him into a pulp without hesitation. He looked forward to it, actually.

***

Inui was perplexed. Actually, perplexed was not the word that he should have used, because his current state of mind was far greater than perplexed.

"This…" he muttered, frowning at the screen, his glasses-covered eyes scanning the information that the machine had conveyed over to the three of them, "This if illogical." He sat back and frowned, opening his notebook to a clean page and setting his pen to action. "The machine is programmed to setting off an electrical current at 28 volts, which in most cases produces only a slight tingling sensation. Yet the data that is being related back to us clearly states that Fuji's body reacts differently to these controlled electrical signals. According to the data, if converted correctly, for 65% of the tests, Fuji feels the normal tingling, but the other 35% is a sharper, more acute pain."

Inui adjusted his glasses, his frown deepening and his pen flying faster across the page. "Data doesn't lie," he muttered, frowning at the numbers that flashed before his eyes. For once in his life, he could not explain how this had happened, and it irked him. "I'll check up on other resources and try to reach a conclusion. For the meantime, I suggest that we unhook Fuji from the machine and retest at a later date."

Tezuka nodded, but before he could even move his arm to turn off the machine, he paused, a feeling of foreboding stealing over his chest. "Fuji…" he muttered, causing Echizen and Inui to look at him curiously before they followed his gaze to the compartment Fuji was in. Their breaths caught in their throats as they saw what Tezuka saw.

Fuji was slumped on the compartment's floor, leaning forward so that his upper body leaned heavily against the glass door. He was still except for the occasional violent twitch, during which his face would contort in pain. It had paled considerably, and they didn't have to guess to know that Fuji had descended into his Broken Kingdom again. Tezuka's hazel eyes narrowed dangerously, and he muttered a string of curses, much to Inui's and Echizen's surprise.

"I told him to shout as soon as he felt something painful. Didn't he listen?" he growled out, snapping the machine off and marching over to the compartment. Inui and Echizen could only stand there and watch as he yanked the door open and caught Fuji's body as it slumped forward. In two, deft movements he had unplugged Fuji from his wires and had picked up his limp body, turning around with an unreadable mask on his face.

Echizen turned to Inui. "Ne, Inui-sempai, I've never seen Tezuka-buchou like that before," he said, picking his words cautiously, since Tezuka was within listening range.

Inui snapped his notebook shut, pocketing his pen. "Tezuka gets over-protective about several things. He's very responsible, so there is a 99.9% chance that he takes Fuji's personal health as his own responsibility." Tucking the book underneath an arm, he opened the door so that Tezuka and his load could step out into the hallway. "I'll talk to Eiji about this, and then I'm scheduling an appointment with his family," he said to Tezuka, in a brisk voice that allowed for no argument. Inui was one of the few people who could talk to Tezuka like that and not get his head bitten off or his legs run off by doing laps in the process.

"Do as you see fit, Inui," Tezuka sighed, appearing to be very tired. He could feel a migraine approaching him, and glanced down at Fuji, who was still slumped in his hold and showed no signs of returning to the world of the conscious anytime soon. He sighed again, shifting Fuji so that the burden on his arms was a bit more equal. "Really, though… it shouldn't be so hard to scream when it becomes too painful, should it, Inui?"

Inui shrugged, clapping his captain reassuring on the shoulder. "Some people need coaxing for that. Fuji might be one of those people."

Tezuka sighed once more, giving a slight nod. But really, one would think that with Fuji's vocals, he would have long screamed by now. It made no sense to him. "Echizen, tell Kikumaru about this and then find Oishi. Ask if he can find anything about Fuji in his old doctor's files. Tell him to use whatever methods necessary."

"Hai, buchou," Echizen answered and trotted off to complete his task.

Inui watched him go before giving a slight bow to Tezuka. "I'll start my research, as well. Ja, Tezuka." Tezuka nodded as Inui dismissed himself before making his way over to the elevator. Fuji shifted in his arms but didn't wake up, instead mumbling something about pain and fighting. Tezuka decided that it would be safer for his sanity if he ignored it.

Tezuka nudged open the door to Fuji's room and then proceeded to deposit the unconscious brunet onto the bed, only to be faced with a problem: Fuji had latched his arms around his chest and now refused to let go, no matter how hard Tezuka tried to pry him off of him. Tezuka grunted, resigning himself to the fact that he would have to wait until Fuji fully fell asleep so that he could free himself.

Somehow… he didn't see Fuji falling into true slumber anytime soon, which meant that he himself wouldn't be leaving anytime soon, either. He shifted himself and Fuji so that they were both lying on the bed, with Fuji's head resting gently on Tezuka's chest and Tezuka holding the smaller man in an embrace.

Fuji mumbled something incoherent in his unconscious state, snuggling into Tezuka's chest, and Tezuka had no choice but to tighten his embrace around Fuji's body. Tezuka resolved that he was going to take a nice, long nap in his own bed as soon as he managed to free himself from Fuji. His head was pounding, and he closed his eyes, leaning his chin subconsciously onto Fuji's head, his soft hair tickling his chin. It wasn't long before he was fast asleep, holding Fuji in that tender embrace, no matter how hard he had tried to stay awake so that he could enact his escape plan.

If only he knew how many more times he would end up sleeping with Fuji due to his knack of timing his descending into his broken kingdom…

* * *

A/N: Nyaha... Fuji is probably the only one capable of holding onto Tezuka when he is asleep/unconscious and never letting go no matter how much Tezuka tries to get him off of him. XP

Reviews are wonderful! Thank you. ^_^


	5. Test 4 – Past

**_Test 4 – Past_**

Conflicting schedules were a horror, Inui decided as he glanced at his laptop, frowning behind his thick-rimmed glasses as he looked at the numbers that the screen displayed for him. He was in his office, having staked out a room that was virtually empty and furnishing it so that it would a cozy workplace for him. One side of his desk was against the wall, near the corner, leaving a small area for his chair to go against the back wall. Where it was positioned, Inui could simply lift his head and survey the entire office, crammed with his various research materials as it was. His bookshelves were overflowing with reference materials, and there was an old couch against the wall opposite of the one that the back of his chair rested upon. The couch had been salvaged from his home; his parents had wanted to throw it out and Inui had pounced on it, saying that he could make use for it. His parents had quite willingly given the couch to him, although they were curious as to what he would do with it.

He quite liked that couch actually, and could usually be found taking a nap on it whenever he wasn't working on his research (unfortunately, that was rarely). He wasn't the only one to nap there, though. His couch was free for any of his teammates to use, and so it wasn't unusual to find someone curled up on its soft cushions, snoring away the afternoon to the lullaby of Inui's typing. Because of this, his couch was equipped with several plump pillows, as well as a soft, fluffy blanket neatly folded and placed next to the pillows, simply waiting for someone to collapse on it and use them.

The door behind him suddenly opened, a soft squeaking sound, and the Data master lifted up his head from his computer, turning to the door to find Tezuka walking into the room. He shut the door gently after him, giving a soft sigh as he did so, leaning heavily upon the closed apparatus and rubbing his temples. He looked quite exhausted, with dark circles shadowing his eyes, and he carried himself rigidly, looking like even a pin dropping onto the ground would make him jump. _Very strange… it's not like Tezuka at all to be so high-strung,_ Inui noted into his mental notebook. _Actually, if I think about it… it all started a week ago after the first testing with Fuji. Hmm… interesting…_

"Tezuka," he greeted, turning his attention back to his screen, listening as Tezuka made his way slowly towards the couch. He collapsed onto it and leaned against its back, staring wearily at the ceiling.

There was a comfortable silence in Inui's office that was only interrupted by the sound of Inui typing away at his computer. As much as Inui loved to collect data on his teammates, he would never pry into their private thoughts unless he had a very good reason to. It was this quality that made Inui's office such a favorite retreat for the team whenever work wore them down.

"Did you schedule a meeting with the Fuji family?" Tezuka finally asked, breaking the silence and shifting his position to a more dignified one.

Inui chuckled faintly, glancing at his team leader. "They'll be here at around four thirty," he told him. "I apologize for the fact that I was only able to schedule it a week after you requested it. But in the meantime, why don't you put some use into that couch of mine and take a nap? You look like you could use it."

Tezuka gave him a look that would freeze most people in their tracks, but Inui was immune to his glare, having known him throughout their school years and then through all of college. Tezuka glared a little more before he seemed to reconsider Inui's offer. He moved the pillows to a more comfortable position, then lay down and pulled the blanket towards him. "Wake me up by four," he mumbled, turning onto his side. Much to Inui's amusement, Tezuka was asleep within a few seconds.

He shook his head, sighing lightly at Tezuka's stubbornness. _I should probably tell Oishi about this, _Inui mused to himself. But just as he was about to get up and find the doctor, the door opened again and said doctor stepped inside. _Impeccable timing,_ Inui thought, sitting back down as Oishi shut the door behind him and glanced around, green eyes lingering on Tezuka's sleeping form.

"Tezuka must be quite tired not to wake up when someone walks in," Oishi noted, frowning as he watched the gentle rising and falling of Tezuka's chest, his head tilted gently to the side as he listened to his breathing. "Honestly…" he grumbled, making his way over to Inui's overflowing bookshelves and browsing through them, "why can't he just relax and rest once in a while?"

Inui smiled slightly, watching as Oishi found the reference that he wanted and pulled up a chair opposite of Inui, sitting down and flipping through the pages. "It wouldn't be Tezuka if he relaxed, now, would it?" he asked, amusement evident in his voice. Oishi had no choice but to nod in agreement, since Inui was usually right and his statements normally left no room for arguments. "What are you looking up, Oishi?" he asked, looking curiously over the edge of his computer at the book that Oishi had picked off of the shelves.

Oishi flipped the page, looking thoughtful. "I just had a thought…" he murmured, skimming the page before moving on to the next one. "Looking into Fuji's medical history ended up providing more questions than answers, but there was just one topic that repeated to haunt me. I was simply curious about what could possibly induce such a state of mental instability in a person that they have something of a 'broken kingdom' to retreat to when not in a conscious state. And since you have the most complete set of references out of all of us, I thought it would be a good idea to research a bit on my own from your store, since my other resources didn't quite have as much information as I would have liked."

"Ah… I see." Inui saved his work and leaned back against the wall, his long fingers drumming thoughtfully on his desktop. "I've thought about it, as well. However, whatever it is, it doesn't seem like Tezuka is willing to cough up information about this." He sighed; really, now… Tezuka was being his usual stubborn self when he purposefully withheld information. Inui hated it when he did that. "I suppose that whatever's happened must have been very traumatic. But if he says that it's a broken kingdom, one can assume that at one time it was whole, right?" he finished.

Oishi blinked, looking puzzled as he registered what Inui was saying. "I think I get it! So you're saying that we might be able to repair Fuji's kingdom and his sanity at the same time!"

Inui twitched. "I don't recall calling Fuji insane…" he mumbled, but Oishi had the basic idea, so he left it at that.

"Either way, Fuji's wellbeing should come first above all other things," Oishi said decisively. "I'm glad that Tezuka's stopped the bigger tests for the time being. Fuji has a tendency of not crying out until the pain is too much for him to bear, or even it _is_ unbearable for him, he still won't cry out. It's like he wants us to test his limits." He sighed, lowering the book and frowning lightly into space at nothing in particular. "But, by doing that, it drains him both physically and emotionally. Really… Fuji is a difficult character." Oishi sighed again, shutting the book and glancing at the clock that was mounted on the wall.

"Look at the time," he said brightly, getting up and returning the book to its shelf. "We should head to the cafeteria; it's lunch time and Taka likes it when we're punctual. I'll tell him to make something extra for Tezuka so that he can have it when he wakes up."

Inui nodded. "Good idea," he murmured as he stood. The two men maneuvered themselves carefully out of the office lest they wake up Tezuka from his much-needed rest.

Unfortunately for their efforts, Tezuka had already woken up, and had listened quietly to their conversation. Now he shifted so that he was lying on his back, one hand reached up to hold his face tiredly.

_Repair his kingdom, was it?_ He closed his hazel eyes as he contemplated this idea that the two people he trusted the most on the team had proposed. _I suppose it's worth a shot. If we can 'fix' Fuji, **my** sanity will be saved, in the least._

He sighed wearily, letting his hand drop to his side and stretching lazily on the couch, wiggling around until he found a comfortable position. Sleep reclaimed him in a few short minutes, and when Oishi and Inui returned from the cafeteria with lunch for three, they found Tezuka sleeping peacefully, like a child without a care in the world. Both smiled softly before setting lunch down on the desk (Tezuka could eat when he woke up, since his rest was most important), discussing what they wanted to ask the Fuji family when they appeared for the interview over their food.

***

Yuuta felt frighteningly small as he walked into the lobby of the institute. He didn't like being here, with the floors that were so squeaky clean that he could nearly see his own reflection in them (freaky, by all means), the doctors and nurses who were always set to bite his head off (what had he ever done to _them?_), and the people who snapped at you when you sat down in the empty chair next to them because that was the only one available and apparently they were simply 'going through hard times' so they had short tempers (Yuuta's temper would have been legendary if he went with that mindset).

Actually, Yuuta wouldn't have even set foot inside this big building that he didn't like had it not been for the fact that his aniki had specifically requested for him: Fuji Yuuta. It filled himself with a sense of pride that he took care not to let anyone else know, but his older sister and parents knew anyway. He supposed that there were just some things that you couldn't hide from family, no matter how hard you tried.

"You must be the Fuji family, am I correct?" The four Fujis turned their heads to see Inui. His thick-rimmed square glasses shone as he studied them carefully, noting a couple things into his notebook, his pen scratching quickly over the page. He was dressed in a collared shirt and a pair of sweatpants, but wore a long, white lab coat over all this.

Fuji Yoshiko, his mother, nodded her head. "Yes. We are Syusuke's family. I am Fuji Yoshiko, this is my husband Fuji Haruto," she broke off, gesturing to the man who stood besides her. He was a striking image of Fuji, Inui noted, but with eyes that weren't closed in an eternal smile. But other than that… the build, the facial features, the hair… Fuji closely resembled his father in these aspects. "These are our children, Yumiko and Yuuta." Yumiko nodded politely, while Yuuta adopted his signature 'I could care less' attitude, complete with the arms crossed over his chest and the impish tilt of his head.

Inui nodded as the corners of his mouth quirking up into a faint smile at Yuuta's behavior. What an interesting family Fuji possessed. "I am Inui Sadaharu, and will be serving as your escort. I'm afraid you'll have to be answering a few of our questions first before we can let you see Fuji. It's standard procedure."

They nodded to show that they understood before following Inui to the elevator. "Sakuno-san, tell Oishi's assistant that Oishi won't be in the office today," he said on his way to the nurse behind the reception counter.

The young woman nodded, her long auburn braids swishing gently back and forth. "I'll do that, Inui-san," she answered, and Inui nodded back, pushing the button to call the elevator. When it arrived, he ushered the Fuji family inside and pressed the button for the third floor.

"In here, please," Inui said, opening the door to the conference room that was picked for the interview. "Everyone's waiting." The Fujis filed in silently, a bit wary about what they might encounter.

Yuuta stepped into the room, a sulky glare on his face. The hallway that he had walked through had been too quiet for his liking, and his liking of the institution had just plummeted even further from where it originally was. It also didn't help matters that as soon as Yuuta walked into the room, he was hugged tightly (or nearly strangled, depending on who one asked) by an energetic redhead and belittled by a smirking man with black hair and a Fila cap (to add salt to Yuuta's wounds, the other was obviously younger than himself).

The door suddenly opened and a hush descended on all of the people in the room. Turning, they found Tezuka standing in the doorway, a frown upon his face as he glared at his teammates and his arms crossed over his chest. "What an impressive presence," Yumiko breathed, while Yuuta was awestruck by this man.

"Kikumaru, stop strangling our guest," Tezuka ordered, and Eiji hastily let go of Yuuta, looking sulky. Couldn't Tezuka lighten up a bit? He hadn't meant any harm…

The redhead continued pouting as he took a seat and Tezuka turned to address the Fuji family. "I apologize for not being here when you arrived to greet you. Upper management made a call and I needed to answer it. Please accept my humblest apologizes." He gave a respectful bow, and they nodded quietly. "I am Tezuka Kunimitsu, the leader of this research group." He nodded to Inui, taking a seat as Inui stood to start the meeting. The lights were turned off, the projector was turned on, and the Fuji family was given seats to sit in before Inui started.

"We're thankful that you could make it here today, although we apologize for calling you and your family here when it appears you are very busy, Fuji-san," Inui started, speaking to Fuji's father. "However, there were certain matters regarding your son that we felt would be best if we cross-referenced with information from his previous records and from his family itself. As it so seems, Fuji's records were hard to obtain, and what we _could_ obtain shed little to no light on our situation."

"So we'd just like to ask a few questions regarding Fuji," Oishi spoke up as Inui fiddled around with his laptop, getting it ready for note-taking. "We'd like to know a bit more about his medical history, for instance, and if by any chance anything particularly 'exciting' happened in his life that would have left a lasting impact on him." Sitting next to Oishi, Eiji nodded, looking very serious. He had been disturbed ever since the first test, and was counting on his family to offset his doubts by providing him with some more information. "As Fuji's personal doctor for the next few weeks, I want to make sure I know as much about him. Eiji's profession, too, would require this information, as he is Fuji's psychologist for the duration of his visit here with us."

Yoshiko was silent for a few moments before nodding, saying, "I see…"

Oishi smiled lightly. "Thank you. I'd like to start with Fuji's childhood… the earlier stages of it, at least, if you wouldn't mind." He hoped that an evenly spaced timeline would make processing the information easier on all of them.

"Iie… not at all," Yoshiko murmured, glancing at her husband, reaching over and squeezing his hand gently before turning her attention back to Oishi. "Syusuke was born as a healthy baby… right on time with the estimated due date. At the time of his birth, the doctors and I discovered two marks in the shape of the crescent moon between his shoulder blades, facing opposite of each other. We assumed that it was simply a birthmark although it was the first time anyone had ever seen or heard of such shaped birthmarks. And their placement puzzled everyone; they were symmetrical and perfectly shaped. It was almost like someone had bought a cookie cutter in that shape and pressed it against his back. Nonetheless, we assumed that it was nothing and that it would fade with time as some birthmarks did. And if it didn't, we didn't believe that it would hinder his life in any way, shape, or form, so we were released from the hospital and allowed to take little Syusuke home with us three days later.

"For the first eight or so months, Syusuke lived and grew like any other normal child of his age did. Although, we soon learned that he rarely cried. When we asked the doctors who had assisted with his deliver about this, they revealed that Syusuke hadn't cried when he had first entered the world, but had still showed obvious signs of breathing. If I remember correctly, Syusuke only cried that one time when Yumiko forgot to check on him after his nap and he had thought that he was abandoned. You could see it in his eyes… Syusuke's eyes showed his most direct feelings, and even if he hadn't understood what those feelings were, he had still showed them to us.

"It was shortly after his first birthday that we noticed something odd happening to him. By then, Yuuta had joined our household, and one of Syusuke's favorite pastimes was toddling over to his crib and staring at his baby brother with a sparkle in those blue eyes of his. It was during this period in which Syusuke would sometimes wake us up in the middle of the night for back rubs. We didn't understand why, but he wouldn't go back to sleep until we performed the action, so we took shifts for that as well as to care for Yuuta."

She broke off, taking a deep breath as she did so. A mug of tea was poured for her, and she drank thankfully. "Syusuke's wings started growing when he reached two years of age. The first indication of this growth was the rise in his birthmarks… when you ran a finger over them you would notice the bump that they made. Syusuke could then speak, and 'back' and 'hurt' became his two most commonly used words. He would come to us and say 'back hurt' and then we would give him a back rub. He'd smile after a while and leave to do whatever else he was doing before he wanted his back rubbed, but it was worrying, because as time passed, one could clearly see the projections from his back through his shirts as two rounded little bumps."

"But the wings didn't come out yet?" Momo asked, incredulous. He was shushed by a glare from Tezuka and Kaidoh, but Yoshiko didn't seem to mind much about the interruption.

"No. The wings didn't come out at that time. We took Syusuke to the doctors, but they were just as stunned and puzzled as we were. It didn't show up on any of the x-rays they conducted, and Syusuke got so exhausted from the ordeal and cranky from the doctors constantly fussing over him that after a few months we stopped going altogether and hoped that it would turn out alright and that it wouldn't be some new kind of rare disease.

"This continued throughout the time that he was three years old, and then it came time for his fourth birthday. Naturally, we were all excited for the event because Syusuke was born on a leap year and this would be the first time since he was born that we could properly celebrate his birthday.

"We saw his wings for the first time on that morning. He bounced into the living room in his pajamas, smiling brightly like he usually did. The projections on his back seemed bigger than usual, and worried, we took a look at it first before doing anything else. I remember Syusuke was quite amused by this and humored us by standing still instead of running around making it into a game. His birthmarks had vanished, and instead were replaced with his wings. To this day, we're speculating about how he obtained them, since there was no sign of any blood indicating that the marks he had before carried ruptured to allow the wings to leave his body or anything of that sort. It simply… appeared… it seemed.

"Yuuta and Yumiko were awed, just as we were, and Syusuke was more than happy to start a little fashion show of his own right there in the living room, showing off his new possession with a happy smile on his face. Having recently learned what an 'angel' was, he was excited that he was now like them in a sense because of his wings. Ever since then, he's carried them on his back wherever he went. They were just like any other part of his body, growing as he grew."

Inui finished his mad typing and read over his data, nodding quietly to himself after he had made sure that he had gotten everything he wanted down and saving the information. Taka was the one who spoke up next:

"How did Fuji take to school life, what with those wings of his?" he asked, his voice quiet and timid yet at the same time curious.

Yumiko answered this time. "Kaa-san wanted to keep Syusuke home and home school him, but Syusuke wouldn't hear of it since Yuuta would be attending school and he didn't want to leave his little brother alone like that. But it seemed that he took well to school life, and even obtained his own gathering of fans. We turned the wings into a costume that Syusuke never wanted to part with; he didn't seem to mind… in fact, I believe Syusuke quite liked the thought of having an angel costume on all year. Didn't he make himself s tinsel halo and attached it to his head and wore that to school one day when he was in third grade?" she asked the rest of her family.

Yoshiko laughed softly. "He did; he was quite adorable, too." But then she looked sadly at her mug of tea. "He wore such a happy smile that day… I remember it clearly because it seemed that after that day, the rest of his smiles weren't even half as happy as that one."

This caught Tezuka's attention. "Do you know what might have caused that?" he asked, leaning forwards onto the desk so that he could rest his chin on his interlaced fingers. His hazel eyes stared intently at Fuji's mother, almost as if he had skills in which he could see straight into her mind at the words she was going to say.

"Hai. After his year in the third grade, we got a call from a research institute named Nagoya Seitoku. Syusuke was with them for three months. When he came back, he was thinner, paler, and a much quieter child than when he left. We don't know exactly what happened to him while at the Nagoya Seitoku institute, but he started having nightmares when he returned home, often waking up screaming in the middle of the night. At his worst, he'd have one every single night, and we'd resort to putting him under a strong sedative so that he could have a decent night's sleep. But because of the danger that could come from an drug overdose, we were only allowed to give him the sedative once every week to avoid danger."

"And he sleeps well with the effect of the drug?" Eiji asked, looking both worried and serious at the same time.

"Yes. He sleeps through the entire night when we apply the drug."

Tezuka nodded, drinking in this information, noting how Inui's fingers flew over his keyboard as he made notes. "Please continue," he said when Inui gave him a nod to show that he was ready for the next phase in Fuji's story.

Yoshiko drained her teacup and Momo got up to refill it, earning him a nod of thanks before the woman launched back into her tale. "When he entered junior high school, he was taken under the wing of the Hyoutei and Rikkai institutes. I believe that they had joined together for the duration that Syusuke stayed with them, which was two years. When he returned to us again, he seemed better. He had opened up a bit and now laughed and joked on a regular basis. He slept better through the nights, as well, only being plagued by those nightmares of his once a week or so. In his worse case scenarios after the Hyoutei and Rikkai experience, it would be three nights a week."

"A vast improvement," Oishi mumbled, looking thoughtful. "The Rikkai and Hyoutei institutes are known for their rigid testing procedures, but they produce the best results and are among the most respected institutes in Japan. We have affiliates in both institutions although this is the first time any of us has heard of them joining together, no matter how brief the period."

"Either way," Yumiko spoke up, "we're glad that Syusuke went there. He seemed a bit more like a kid after that, and we're glad."

Taka smiled, nodding his head. "As expected of Rikkai and Hyoutei," he said, not bothering to hide the awe in his voice.

Fuji's father finally spoke, after being silent throughout the tale of his eldest son's childhood (which was to be expected, since he hadn't been there for it). "May we see Syusuke, now?" he asked, voicing the question that was in the minds of the rest of his family.

Tezuka stood, as did Fuji's father, shaking his hand as he did so. "Yes, of course. Thank you for telling us about Fuji; please rest assured that this information will help us in our efforts." He was intentionally vague in what these 'efforts' were, but none of the Fujis pried for more details. "Oishi, Kikumaru, escort our guests to Fuji's room. They must be anxious to see him."

"Of course." Oishi stood, Eiji bouncing up happily with him, and the two headed to the door. "I'm sure Fuji will be glad to see you," Oishi offered, opening the door and holding it for them to exit. "From what we learned about him in the last week, he loves nice surprises." The team had made it a habit of getting him a couple little gifts to present to him at random intervals. Whether it was books for him to read and analyze (Fuji could do that for hours, they discovered), extra sushi from Taka (Fuji quite preferred the wasabi kind), stacks of paper and loads of pens (he had told Tezuka once that writing to oneself and drawing little doodles was a great way of expressing one's current thoughts and emotions), or a digital camera (Inui couldn't quite say whether or not he regretted giving it to him… because suddenly Fuji was making a habit of sneaking into everyone's rooms late at night when he couldn't sleep to take pictures of everyone in sleep, probably to use as blackmail at the first chance he got), Fuji accepted it all with genuine enthusiasm. "This way, please." They started following Oishi to the elevator, although Yuuta paused and looked back at Tezuka.

"Tezuka-san?" he asked hesitantly, looking warily at the man who was the leader of the team.

"Yes, Fuji-kun? Is something wrong?"

Normally, Yuuta would have been irked (extremely irked, might he add) if someone addressed him is such a nonchalant manner as Tezuka had just done so. But Tezuka was simply being professional, even Yuuta knew that, so he bit back the fiery retort that had sprang to his tongue. "Tezuka-kun… Aniki… he…" he trailed off, looking uncomfortable. "Aniki sometimes becomes different, you get what I mean?" he asked, looking up at Tezuka, begging with his eyes for the taller man to understand. "He's still Aniki… I mean, he _looks_ like Aniki, at least, except he's darker, bitterer, and he hurts others much more regularly than Aniki does or ever did."

He swallowed nervously, beginning to fidget under Tezuka's unwavering hazel gaze. "So… uh… if Aniki ever becomes like that, please make him turn back into the regular Aniki. Because… because Kaa-san and Nee-san want the regular aniki to come back!"

Tezuka was silent for a moment, watching Yuuta quietly. "And you?" he finally asked, earning himself a puzzled look from the youngest Fuji sibling. "Which one do _you_ want back?"

"I…" Yuuta paused, staring miserably at the floor. His brother had always been 'special,' in more ways than one, and ever since they had been little it was always Syusuke that was getting the extra attention. Yuuta would have to admit that he was jealous of that. He wanted to be praised just as much as his brother was, and slowly, he began to let his jealousy get the better of him. He pushed away the older boy's attempts to set up a good relationship with him, shoved him out of his room when all Syusuke wanted to do was talk. All of his acts were to tell his older brother that:

_He didn't care about him._ Fuji Yuuta did not care about the problems that happened in Fuji Syusuke's life. Not one bit.

But Syusuke had never stopped caring for Yuuta.

Never, not once, did he push Yuuta away whenever the younger boy went to him for help. When Yuuta was bullied, Syusuke stood up for him, letting his fury loose on those who dared go against his little brother (got into a fight, scared the other boys clean out of their wits and into leaving Yuuta alone, and then led the way home for a thorough scolding by their mother and sister, if Yuuta remembered correctly). Yuuta's face burned in shame as he recalled the tense relationship the two of them had ended up sharing as they grew older.

"I… want the regular Aniki back," he mumbled in a low voice. Then, his hands balled into fists at his sides and he looked up at that penetrating hazel gaze, his light brown eyes blazing. "I want the regular Aniki back!" he repeated, louder and with more force. "I want _my_ Aniki back!"

Tezuka raised an eyebrow and the ghost of a smile crossed his lips. Yuuta swore that his eyes were playing tricks on him when he saw it flit across the older man's face and then vanish almost as soon as it had appeared. "I see," was all Tezuka said on the matter, though, and Yuuta made a hasty bow before exiting the room. It was almost on an afterthought that Tezuka sent Taka to escort the boy in case he got lost.

"Buchou… what do we do, now?" Momo asked, glancing up at his captain. Inui made some last minute adjustments to his data before looking up, as well.

Tezuka frowned (actually, his normal frown just deepened slightly), thinking. "Rikkai and Hyoutei were mentioned; I think this is very valuable news," he said slowly, moving so that he could look out the window of the conference room and out onto the parking lot, his eyes finding the people that were moving but not quite seeing them. "Kaidoh and Echizen, you two will go to Hyoutei tomorrow. Ask for Atobe Keigo and tell him that I'd like to talk to him about an 'angel.' Inui, you and Momoshiro will go to Rikkai and tell the same thing to Yukimura Seiichi and Sanada Genichirou." He turned from the window so that he could look at the four assembled men. "Am I understood?"

They stood, nodding their heads briskly. "Yes, sir!" they barked out, and with a nod, Tezuka dismissed them.

* * *

A/N: Almost 6000 words! But only because Fuji's story took so long to write out.

And I'm sorry, I couldn't help but put in Hyoutei and Rikkai. I am developing an insane (and possible unhealthy?) addiction to those teams as well as Seigaku. Nagoya Seitoku, in case anyone doesn't know, is the team that faced Rikkai in the semi-finals of the Nationals Arc. It's the team made up of all foreigners who only speak English and upgraded Kirihara to his ultimate devil mode. XP Originally, I was going to have the "bad" institution be Higa, but in the end I decided that I liked Higa a bit too much to only mention them in one eensy-teensy bit of the whole story. So that's why Nagoya Seitoku is here instead. ^_^

Oh, yes... when Yuuta refers to 'his Aniki,' he is referring to the brother who is always smiling kindly and is a support for Yuuta, in case that wasn't clear for anyone. Incest was in no way meant to be applied.

**Review** please! Thank you!!!


	6. Test 5 – Gathering Information

**_Test 5 – Gathering Information_**

"Good morning," Echizen mumbled as he stumbled into the cafeteria, voice still thick with sleep. The young man rubbed tiredly at his half-closed eyes, trying desperately to wake up. He slipped into his chair and Taka set breakfast out in front of him, complete with the milk that Inui insisted he drink in order for him to grow in height (why Inui was so adamant in his insistion that he grow tall was beyond Echizen's comprehension, but he drank the milk nonetheless).

"Good morning, Echizen," Taka offered, smiling at him before vanishing back into his kitchen while the others nodded. Fuji was missing, Echizen noted hazily, yawning widely before starting on his breakfast. "Where's Fuji?" he asked curiously, chewing slowly.

Tezuka looked up from his steaming cup of tea at the youngest member of his team. "Fuji's younger brother spent the night here. They're probably still sleeping; I believe that they had a lot of catching up that they wanted to do."

"No trip to the Broken Kingdom?" Eiji asked, munching happily on his omelet yet still managing to look serious at the same time. The rest of the team assumed that it was a thing that only Eiji was capable of achieving.

Tezuka gave a slight shake of his head. "I believe he slept through the night." At least, Tezuka knew that _he_ had slept peacefully through the night, not waking up even once, much to his happiness, although he showed none of it, instead opting to show his usual impassive face.

Oishi smiled, looking relieved. "I'm glad. As of late he was always looking exhausted. Getting enough sleep is important for everyone, whether or not one is still growing." There were nods of agreement around the table, and for the next few moments only the sound of silverware clinking against plates and chewing was heard.

Tezuka set down his drained teacup, finally speaking and breaking the comfortable silence that had descended on everyone. "Kaidoh, Echizen, do either of you two have a car?" he asked, to which Kaidoh hissed in embarrassment and Echizen found something wonderfully amusing about his empty glass that had once held milk. This was because both Kaidoh and Echizen took public transportation to and from work at the institute since public transportation was a reliable way of getting around. Plus, one didn't need to park a car when taking the train, subway, or bus. They simply dropped one off within a walking distance of one's destination. The research institute, for example, was easily assessable by subway. "Inui, please give Kaidoh and Echizen a ride to the Hyoutei institute, then," Tezuka said. "Kaidoh and Echizen will split the gas bill." The two groaned, but agreed anyway, and Inui nodded to show that he understood. Tezuka sighed; there wasn't a subway line that would take anyone near Hyoutei, and the immediate area around it was off-limits to public buses and the general public. Hyoutei was strictly research institute, as opposed to their own which was also an active practice for many doctors. "Echizen, Kaidoh, get your job passes. You'll need them to be admitted into Hyoutei's doors."

Taka looked mildly puzzled. "Why would Echizen and Kaidoh go to Hyoutei?" he asked, curious in spite of himself. But then realization hit him, and he gave a faint nod as he cleared off empty plates. "Oh… it's to speak with Atobe-san and cross-reference data with Oshitari-san, am I correct?"

Tezuka picked up his teacup, frowning when he realized that he had already finished its contents and setting it back down on the table. Mentally, he was berating himself for having overlooked Hyoutei's Oshitari Yuushi, who though was by no means an expert on data like Inui was, he was Hyoutei's own information-gatherer and would no doubt have as much valuable information as Atobe possessed. "Yes, exactly," he muttered. "Inui, whenever you're ready, the four of you may leave."

Inui glanced around the table, noting drily that Momo had already eaten his breakfast and was busy snagging some more from the person who sat closest to him, which happened to be Eiji, unfortunately for the redhead. "We'll go now, then," he said, standing up and saving Eiji's breakfast from going down the dark tunnel of Momo's mouth and never returning. "Kaidoh, Echizen, go get your job IDs and your other reference materials. You will need to make a complete report. Momoshiro and I will be waiting in the car."

"Hai…" the two of them mumbled, Echizen sulking, and Kaidoh getting very close to having a childish pout on his face. It wasn't fair that Momo got to go with Inui…

"Good luck!" Oishi called out after them as they left the cafeteria.

Eiji waved a hand happily at their retreating backs. "Sayonara!" he called cheerfully, sounding like they were never going to come back ever again (although, once again, making it sound like that while being cheerful was a feat only Eiji could accomplish).

Echizen and Kaidoh simply hunched their shoulders, gritted their teeth, and resisted the urge to pounce on the energetic psychologist. After all, everyone knew that violence did solve any problems.

And besides, Tezuka would just assign them to an eternity of laps around the building. That, by far, was the worst punishment one could ever receive for their crimes.

***

Inui had a BMW X5 that was a beautiful silvery white color. It was the best car that Inui had managed to get his hands on in all of his years of driving a car (his other ones hadn't even come close, sad to say, and Inui had had to get rid of them only after a year of so of driving, and Inui was far from a reckless driver). It could seat seven people, although on more than one occasion Inui was able to cram one extra person in (and no, that person did not go on top of the car, although Inui had always wanted to know what happened when someone rode on a car like that). If one looked at it from the outside, it was a normal car, with nothing different to it.

It was the inside that really struck at people.

"Inui-sempai… what's in your trunk…?" Momo asked, shivering as he heard a 'scritch-scratch' sound coming from the back of the car.

Kaidoh was staring at the back of a seat, gulping as he read the recipe for one of Inui's horrid juices that he had tacked there. Directly underneath of that was a page of symptoms that resulted from drinking said juice, and none of them were pleasant. Kaidoh shivered; his dearly respected Inui-sempai was a scary man.

Sitting in the middle of the car (since the passenger seat was occupied with large white shopping bags), Echizen had reached for his seatbelt, got what he was looking for and a notebook that read 'Chemical Labs: The Best Way of Destroying Something That Was Never Meant to be Found.' Buckling his seatbelt, he thumbed through the notebook, skimming through page upon page of Inui's neat handwriting. "Inui-sempai… how come every single method of destroying something has to do something with Aozu?" he asked, although his face turned a brilliant shade of blue that rivaled the color of the drink itself when he reached the last page where there was a collection of Aozu in all of the steps of its making. Hastily, he shut the notebook and stashed it away somewhere where he would never see it again.

Inui pulled out of the parking lot and onto the throughway. "Ah… is it fussing again?" he asked, ignoring Echizen and instead glancing at the back of his car at Momo and Kaidoh from his rearview mirror. "It was doing that all night. I hope it settles down by the time we get to Rikkai."

"Inui-sempai… what exactly _is_ it?" Momo persisted, shooting another troubled look over his shoulder at the trunk of the car.

Inui chuckled lightly. Really, that expression was priceless. Inui wished that he could have stopped and taken a picture of it for future references (and possibly blackmail material, perhaps?) but since he couldn't just stop in the middle of the throughway, he had to watch sadly as valuable data passed before his eyes, just out of his reach. "Why don't you take a look?" he offered, frowning slightly as another car zoomed past him, obviously breaking the speed limit. "She won't bite you."

"S-she?! Inui-sempai, what kind of a person _are_ you?!"

"The normal kind, I would suppose," Inui said lightly, his eyes concentrating on the road. "And of course, if you would simply _look_, I assure you that all of your doubts will be erased."

Hesitantly, Momo and Kaidoh peeked over the back of the last row of seats to see a cardboard box. And sitting primly in that cardboard box…

…was the most adorable kitten that Kaidoh had ever laid eyes on. "A tortoiseshell tabby…" Kaidoh muttered, staring down at the creature. The cat lifted her head, fixed Kaidoh with her unwavering green gaze, and mewed. "Inui-sempai, why do you have a cat in the trunk of your car?"

"I found her outside of my apartment," Inui answered, maneuvering his car to the exit. "She takes easily enough to me, but the apartment complex that I live in doesn't allow for pets. Renji's, on the other hand, does, if I recall correctly. Besides, his apartment's bigger and she'll have more room to move around in. We made the arrangements the night before last, so that's why I'm taking her to Rikkai with us. It's a side mission, if you will."

Momo grinned. "Who knew Inui-sempai had a soft spot for cats?" he asked impishly, earning a rather furious hiss from Kaidoh and a simple gleam of the glasses from Inui.

Inui followed a set of local roads until he reached a sign erected by the side of the road. 'Hyoutei Institution of Research,' it read, and Inui made a right turn at the next exit. The road led directly to a large parking lot that was situated in front of a grand building designed in the form of a castle ("This is Hyoutei?" Momo asked, incredulous). Inui stopped in front of a booth in the middle of the road, rolling down his window and pulling out his job ID before the man who ran it could even ask for them. "We're from the Seigaku Institution of Research," he said evenly. Echizen and Kaidoh handed him their own IDs, and Inui presented them to the man. "I will be dropping these two men here and will return to pick them up at five o'clock promptly." He handed the IDs over and the four of them waited as the man checked them over.

He handed them back to Inui and gave him a smile. "All clear, Inui-san," he said, and pressed a button in the booth that raised the bar that had previously before the road in front of Inui's car. "I'll be expecting you at five, then. Take care." Inui nodded his thanks and drove on.

"Echizen, Kaidoh," he said as the two of them got off of the car after thanking him for the ride. They gave him questioning looks. "Remember, you are representing the Seigaku Institution and your job is to locate Atobe Keigo and Oshitari Yuushi for the sole purpose of gathering information on Fuji. Kaidoh, don't let your temper get the best of you if something doesn't quite go the way you want it to." Kaidoh looked away in embarrassment, while Echizen smirked. "Echizen, don't provoke anyone with your regular cocky attitude. I'd like to come back and hear that nobody killed anyone. So would Tezuka, for that matter."

"Iesu," Echizen mumbled.

Inui smiled lightly, glad that his message had gotten through. Reminding them of staying out of trouble so that they could get out of running laps was his way of showing them that he cared for them. "Good. Happy data gathering, then." And with those parting words, he drove off, leaving the two to face Hyoutei all by themselves.

"Well…" Echizen muttered, staring up at the front of the Hyoutei Institute and suddenly feeling very, very small, "no one ever prepared us for _this_." Standing besides him, Kaidoh simply gave his signature hiss before marching purposefully forward though the glass doors, stepping straight into the heart of Hyoutei.

***

Whereas the Hyoutei Institute was grand and so shining with magnificence that it nearly blinded the eye (or so Momo had put it), the Rikkai Institute was a much more humble place. It covered a large amount of area, and Inui noted quietly that the amount of buildings on the immediate complex had increased since he had last been here, which had taken place several years ago for a short visit. "Expand and conquer… as expected of Rikkai," he murmured, pulling into the parking lot and turning off the ignition. "Alright, Momoshiro," he said, getting out of the car. Momo quickly followed suit, shutting the car door so that Inui could lock the car, removing the cardboard box with the kitten in it from the trunk before he did so, however. "Our data awaits us."

_Inui-sempai is a little bit too excited about this,_ Momo thought, sighing lightly as he trotted after him, the feline mewing slightly in its box. "Hey, Inui-sempai, how come Rikkai is made up of a collection of buildings, instead of just a single building like our own institute?" he asked curiously.

"Rikkai specializes in researching sports and the programs that go with it," Inui answered. "Most of the techniques that are used in training programs by the top athletes in Japan, possibly even the world, were developed by Rikkai. The majority of the buildings in the Rikkai complex are specially built to accommodate for the development of such programs. Also, the latest models of most fitness machines were developed and created by Rikkai within these very same buildings."

Momo was silent, violet eyes wide in awe. "All developed by Rikkai?" he echoed, before whistling softly. "Then what about Hyoutei?" he asked, stepping up his pace a bit so that he could walk abreast to his senior.

"Hyoutei is a mix of very skilled departments," was Inui's reply. "Hyoutei is especially known for its contributions to the medical knowledge of today's world, although there are also specialized departments branching off from that in geography and the like. Hyoutei's departments work independently of each other, yet each department needs the data of the other in order to function properly. In a sense, the Hyoutei Institute is like a beehive. There are some jobs that seem so trivial and menial, but without them, the hive cannot survive."

They stepped into the lobby of the main building of the Rikkai Institute. Momo could see groups of schoolboys standing together at various areas in the lobby while adults, presumably their coaches, were at the front desk talking with the receptionists. "Rikkai does field trips, as well?" he asked, looking puzzled.

"They're not quite field trips," Inui murmured. "Rikkai offers periods of time for two weeks each in which schools can have their sports team come to use the special equipment at the Institute. I heard that the application process is a tedious procedure, though. Isn't that right, Renji?" Momo blinked and glanced over his shoulder where he could see a man walking up to them. Brown hair fell neatly down to frame his face. His eyes were closed, but still he managed to not bump into anything as he moved towards the two (Momo wondered briefly how that was possible).

"Hmm… quite right, Sadaharu," he offered when he came closer, and then his gaze was redirected to the kitten in the box Inui held. "Ah, is this the one you were talking about?" he asked curiously, taking the box from Inui. The kitten, intrigued, stretched up and sniffed curiously at the man before settling back into her box, her tail flicking peacefully at her side. "It's been awhile since we've last seen each other; I hope you're still well." Then, noticing Momo standing awkwardly besides Inui, he gave a small smile. "Ah… my manners, my manners," he chastised himself softly before speaking again. "I am Yanagi Renji, the resident Data Master of Rikkai. And you would be…?" He trailed off, one fine eyebrow arched slightly as he awaited an answer.

Momo rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, realizing at that exact moment that he hadn't introduced himself to this man. "Momoshiro Takashi," he answered, holding out his other hand for a handshake which was given to him.

"You two must be here to see Genichirou and Yukimura, am I correct?" he asked, returning his attention to Inui, starting forward and beckoning the two to follow him with a brief tilt of his head.

"Yes," was Inui's simple reply as he followed. "Tezuka wanted to discuss some subjects with them, but regrettably he couldn't come in person as there are many things for him to take care of back at our own institute."

There was a slight chuckle from Yanagi as he led them to the elevator. "That sounds like Tezuka," he mused, ushering them into the contraption when the doors opened. "But either way, I should say that it might have been better for him not to come in person. He and Genichirou always seem to be on knives' edges whenever they see each other." Inui nodded slightly, saying nothing but instead rearranging the papers he held in a file at his side. Momo wondered briefly why Inui wasn't taking notes and muttering 'Ii data…' like he usually did… perhaps he knew this already? Puzzled, the young man followed his superiors as the elevator reached their floor and the doors opened. Yanagi led them straight to the end of the hall, where a pair of dark oaken doors stood. 'Yukimura Seiichi' was seen on a nameplate that was stuck to the outside of the door, at eyelevel, in an elegant yet still legible script. It was all very professional looking, except for the fact that someone had stuck a little sticker of a plump red apple next to the name plate. It looked the kind that a parent would buy for their child on their birthday when they were still young and into arts-and-crafts.

Yanagi knocked once, a quick rap-rap sound, and then pushed the door open, although he gave a faint smile at that apple sticker as he did so. "Come in," he said to Inui and Momo as he stepped into the room, with his guests closely at his heels.

Momo had expected Yukimura to be one of those directors who were in their early or mid thirties, with thin hair that was combed neatly to one side of their head, wearing stiff suits and with a dangerously shrewd (and perhaps a little angry?) glint in their eyes. The desk in front of them with be clean of clutter, and there would be motivational images hanging from the wall. A skyline of Tokyo could also be added in. What he got, instead, was essentially the opposite.

Yukimura was actually twenty-five years of age, the same age as Tezuka and Inui, although he looked much younger than reality. He had the face of an angel with a pair of soulful eyes, a deep sapphire in color. Dark hair that looked black but was instead a shade of deep indigo framed his face, wavy and soft. He was not dressed in a suit, instead having opted with one of those bulky sweaters, a nice olive green in color. A collared shirt of a darker color was worn underneath this, as the collar was brought out of the v-neck of the sweater. His desk was a mess of papers… whole stacks that teetered dangerously and looked like they were about to collapse and spill all over the office. There was the occasional motivational image of a bear catching salmon, but for the most part the pictures were of soothing landscapes and impressive gardens, gracefully bounding deer over wide expanses of grassland, the white puffy clouds on a beautiful blue backdrop. There was a large window, but the view they surrendered was of the tennis courts, soccer fields, and the like, rather than a skyline of the city. A small counter was set in front of the window, crowded with even more papers and a coffeemaker. There was a creamy smell in Yukimura's office that Momo was pretty sure wasn't in the offices of any other executive. But he quite liked it; it reminded him of a coffee shop near his home that he frequented on a daily basis, partly because of the good coffee it brewed and partly because of the girl who served said coffee to him.

Yukimura stood up from his desk as the trio stepped inside, smiling pleasantly. "Konichiwa," he said, stepping out from behind his desk and shaking hands first with Inui, then with Momo. "Yanagi, go get Sanada for me," he said, turning to the man who had escorted his guests to his office. His eyebrow rose curiously at the cardboard box he held, and presently a little feline head poked out. The kitten mewed a greeting, glancing around as if it was trying to calculate its best method of escape. "You can leave the cat here, if you'd like," Yukimura told Renji. "Come pick her up at the end of the day." Yanagi nodded quietly, setting the box down on an empty chair, before stepping outside of the room.

Yukimura returned his attention to the two men in front of him. "Please, have a seat," he offered, motioning to two comfortable-looking leather armchairs. As Inui and Momo settled themselves into the chairs, Yukimura made himself busy with the coffeemaker and poured out two mugs of coffee. "Cream, sugar, milk, or a combination?" he asked kindly, glancing questioningly over his shoulder.

"Black, please," Inui stated, and thanked Yukimura when his coffee was handed to him. Momo went with milk and cream, nursing his drink between his hands after he had thanked his host.

Presently, the door opened and Yanagi reappeared. A black-haired man followed him, tall and muscular, a frighteningly stern expression on his face that reminded Momo of Tezuka, and who he assumed must be this 'Sanada' that Yanagi had been sent to fetch. Yukimura offered both men coffee, which they accepted before all three sat down. "This is Sanada Genichirou, my second-in-command," Yukimura introduced. Sanada gave a nod of his head, sipping quietly from his coffee (black, like Inui's). "What was it that you wanted to discuss with us again…?"

Inui lowered his mug of coffee. "Tezuka has asked us to ask you about an 'angel.' We would like it if you would be able to provide us with as much info about this 'angel' as possible," he answered evenly.

Yukimura gave a faint smile, looking nostalgic. "Ah… he's with your institute, now?" he asked softly, pushing aside a few stacks of paper so that he would have more room at his desk (Momo was amazed that they didn't go tumbling to the floor). "Yanagi, use the laptop and pull up Fuji Syusuke's information. It's been awhile since we've had to look at it."

Momo frowned; something was bothering him. Seeing his expression, Yukimura motioned for him to speak, which he did. "You're Tezuka-buchou's age, aren't you? Fuji-san is only one year younger than Tezuka-buchou, and Fuji-san went to the Hyoutei and Rikkai institutes when he started junior high school. You could only have been in junior high school, as well, so how would you have known about Fuji-san, let alone guide him during the time he was supposedly with you?"

Yukimura chuckled while Sanada's brow furrowed slightly. "Oh, we never saw him with our own eyes," Yukimura offered cheerily, looking like this was the best joke he had ever heard in his life. At his laptop, Yanagi looked up, one brow arched curiously, before returning to his screen, his fingers flying over the keyboard. "We were the research team assigned to classifying Fuji's information when we first entered this field," he explained. "In this way, while we've never personally met with Fuji Syusuke, we know everything about him based on the information that our seniors obtained while interacting with him. It's the same with the current staff at Hyoutei. That's why we know about Fuji and we're young at the same time. A nice thing, don't you think?" Mirth shown in his eyes while Sanada simply quirked a brow, a ghost of a smile on his face.

"Yukimura, is your projector working?" Yanagi asked, redirecting their attention to the present. Sanada stood, taking the cable that Yanagi presented him with and then proceeding to hook the laptop up with the projector. The lights were dimmed, the screen brought down, and the machine hummed gently to life.

"Yukimura dislikes using the conference rooms when he has a lot of reference material to carry with him," Sanada said when he noticed Inui's vaguely intrigued expression. "As you can see," here, he broke off and gave a gesture to the stacks upon stacks of papers on his superior's desk, "Yukimura is kept quite busy with all of these materials. It's much more efficient for him and for the institute to have a projector installed in his office so that he can work without lugging so many papers with him."

Inui nodded sagely, draining the last of his coffee and fiddling with his empty mug. Gradually, the white screen began to form words and images, and when it was fully warmed up all five men could see 'File: Fuji Syusuke' printed neatly on the top portion of the screen, directly underneath of which was printed out, 'Top Secret.'

"Fuji is an interesting person, isn't he?" Yukimura asked quietly, planting his chin in his hands. "We know so little about him, and yet so much. He is human, just as we are. The both of us eat, sleep, and behave similarly as a species. And yet here is a society where he is put behind bars and tested and we are on the outside doing the testing. It makes one wonder what kind of a world we live in, doesn't it?"

Inui nodded slowly. "Some would say that we have a right to this, I would believe," he sighed. It occurred to Momo that his senior suddenly looked very, very tired, and so very, very old. "One would expect Fuji to grow cold, to treat us with hatred and disdain because of all of the pains he's been put through. Yet he greets us all with a smile and seems to enjoy our company. Fuji is an interesting person, indeed."

"Perhaps Fuji is simply waiting for a savior," Yanagi spoke up, and all of the men fell silent, pondering those eight words that had been spoken with such formality. And each man could not deny the shred of truth that was ingrained in those eight words.

***

Fuji was skipping happily down the hall of the institute, blissfully oblivious to the fact that he was currently being discussed in the Hyoutei and Rikkai Institutions (although he had to wonder why he sneezed so many times that morning). He was in a thoroughly happy mood; Yuuta had slept over and the two had chatted about life, catching up, and his mother had made his favorite dinner the night before, and breakfast too that morning when he and Yuuta popped out of the room they shared. Fuji had forgotten about how simply _delicious_ home-cooked meals could taste. His taste buds were still in a state of happy oblivion, even though breakfast had been hours ago.

Presently, though, simply skipping up and down the halls lost its appeal to the winged young man, and so he decided to add a fun little twist to it. Instead of simply skipping, he would skip three steps, spin around once on one foot, skip three more, spin around once on the other foot, and repeat this process. Alternating spinning on both feet prevented him from becoming so dizzy that he should topple over (and acquire a lovely black and blue bruise on some part of his body, to which he would then be fussed over for a straight hour by Oishi, Eiji, _and _Tezuka). While he didn't quite like the pain bruises came with, he quite liked the attention, he would have to admit. And seeing worry on Tezuka's usually stony face was such a priceless thing… it was a pity that Fuji could not take a picture of it with his new camera and then sell if for big bucks.

For someone as handsome as Tezuka, there simply _had_ to be fans, right? And the very essence of being a fan was to spend as much money as possible in order to get the things the subject of adoration owned (such as shirts) or for pictures of the subject of adoration in areas of his private life (like napping on the couch). A picture of an idol looking worried would be a wonderful addition to any fan's collection, as every single time they saw that picture they would go something along the lines of:

'Omigosh! He's worried about _me_!'

There'd be a lot of squealing involved, Fuji knew, spinning around and then skipping his three steps. He giggled to himself as he imagined the faces of Tezuka's adoring fans, all of them a wonderful bright red when they saw Fuji's newest 'blackmail' picture.

_Saa… how am I going to get my hands on a picture like that so I can mass produce it, I wonder?_

He wasn't given very long to think, as he was in the middle of a happy little turn (by now he was turning while moving forward, instead of simply in one spot) and he bumped into something soft and warm and strong. Stopping himself, he looked up to see Tezuka, in the flesh, frowning down at him and giving him one of the famous glares only Tezuka was known for through his glasses.

"Fuji," he said simply, and Fuji wondered briefly if it was perhaps his voice that could catch the hearts of his fans (Fuji was going to go with the assumption that Tezuka had them). Tezuka had a deep voice, not quite reaching a baritone but a nice tenor instead, and though expressionless more than most of the time, it was possibly the sweetest thing Fuji had ever heard when Tezuka actually put warmth into his words.

An impish grin spread over his face and Fuji launched himself at Tezuka, hugging him cheerfully. "Te-zu-ka!" he cried out, dragging out the older man's name and adopting a sing-song voice. "I wanna join your fanclub!"

Tezuka's frown deepened, and his eyebrow twitched. Fanclub? Since when had he had a fanclub? "I don't have one," he said slowly, after a moment or two of pause.

Fuji pulled away, shocked. "No fanclub?" he asked, a pout forming on his face. Tezuka wondered briefly where Fuji had suddenly found all of the energy. A week before, one wouldn't catch him doing a single deed of mischief. Now he was practically bouncing off of the walls.

Tezuka hoped that Eiji hadn't fed him anything to make him full of energy only so that he crashed later on. If that was the case, that redhead would find himself running an eternity of laps…

"Fine, then." Fuji's voice, huffy like a child who hadn't gotten his own way but was determined to get _something_ out of it all, brought him out of his musings and back into the present. "If I can't join your fanclub because you claim that it's nonexistent, you're taking me out to dinner tonight at a restaurant of my choice."

Tezuka was about to argue that no, he would most certainly _not_ be doing anything of the sort, when those eyes opened and he was faced with teary, cerulean orbs. "If we use duct tape, my wings won't show," Fuji offered, still maintaining the puppy face. Tezuka sighed, defeated, and Fuji instantly brightened up.

And that was why, three hours later, at six o'clock, Tezuka, Oishi, and Eiji were busy duct taping Fuji's wings to his body, since Fuji was adamant about going out to eat with Tezuka and no one could convince him otherwise. "It'll be fun!" Fuji said brightly, standing shirtless and still in the middle of the room while the other three men wound the tape methodically and gently around his torso. "Besides, I've always wanted to have a scenario like that. You know… it's kind of like where couples go and the girl says something like 'I don't love you anymore.'" He received blank stares and sighed, looking momentarily dejected. "You've never seen sappy and corny romance movies?" he asked. "Your older sister never forced you to?"

Eiji grinned, understanding. "Tezuka and Oishi don't have older sisters," he piped up cheerily. "And my two older sisters probably would be at the receiving end of a comment like that." But before either of the others could offer consolidations Eiji was continuing on, grinning from ear to ear. "My oldest sister would probably let the guy go with a few punches. She takes martial arts and could knock someone in three or so punches. My other older sister would probably torment the guy for a month, toilet papering his house or pretending to be a ghost and haunt him or the like, until he drags himself over to her doorstep and begs forgiveness. She'd probably tell him he was imagining things and scar the man for life."

Fuji's eyes gleamed as he listened, and Tezuka had to forcibly grab Fuji's shirt, jam it over his head, and then drag him out of the room for the safety of his own health and the health of all the other team members. "Don't get any ideas," he said sternly while he ushered Fuji to the elevator, the smaller male righting his shirt and chuckling manically to himself.

Tezuka chose a nice, Italian restaurant for the two of them, feeling mildly self-conscious with the more petite, effeminate male walking closely behind him. Tezuka supposed that this was the closest thing to a date that he had ever done in his life; while Fuji certainly wasn't a representative of the opposite gender he could certainly be passed off for one if one stared at him from a distance. They were shown to a table, given menus, and shortly afterwards they ordered. Fuji looked absolutely thrilled, and Tezuka wondered what could be so thrilling about this current scene. It was simply two men sitting at a restaurant. How much more mundane could it get?

"Ne, Tezuka, tell me about yourself." Tezuka paused, a forkful of steaming food halfway up to his mouth. Frowning slightly, he set down his fork, giving the faintest tilt of his head. Fuji forked another bite into his mouth, chewed and swallowed, before asking again. "Kaa-san and Nee-san must have told you about me and my history. I'd like to hear about yours, since I don't like it when someone knows more about me than I know about them. All of my previous… caretakers… have shared their histories with me, so I'd like you to the same with me. Consider this as my own resource gathering."

Tezuka leaned back against his chair and regarded Fuji quietly. "There's not much to my history," he said bluntly. "I could literally bore you to tears with my life's story."

Fuji perked up, impish smile once again on his face. "Saa… that couldn't be possible, could it?" he asked mischievously, "because then you'd be implying that you were a boring person, and if you were a boring person, you would have already bored me to tears." Those eyes opened again and Tezuka was faced with cerulean depths, so blue in color and so deep that he felt like he could drown in them. "I'm all ears, Tezuka. All you have to do is start."

And somehow, without Tezuka quite knowing how Fuji had been able to do so, he was speaking, telling Fuji about himself. He told him about his family, who were deep into traditions. He spoke about how he played tennis, was quite good at it actually, good enough to go pro but he had chosen science instead. With a little extra prompting he spoke a bit about his past relationships, all miserable failures, where the one Tezuka had tried for had gotten fed up with his usual non-compromising attitude or that Tezuka himself had called off because it just wasn't working. An hour past, another hour, other guests came and went and still Fuji listened to him, as attentive as always, inserting a nod or a word of agreement wherever appropriate.

When Tezuka was done, winded and wondering how on earth he had managed to speak so much, Fuji leaned his chin into his hands, looking thoughtfully up at Tezuka. He was quiet for a moment before speaking, his voice soft, a pleasant melody against Tezuka's ears.

"Tezuka, out of all of the other researchers I've met, you are the most interesting one by far."

And Tezuka was left to wonder about what exactly Fuji meant by that simple phrase.

* * *

A/N: Ask and you shall recieve, my friends. ^_^ This probably would have been out sooner if I hadn't gotten side-tracked with coloring makeables... but my Paint program was finally listening to some of my commands and I was all like 'Yes! Finally, I can be cool and color on my computer!' Yes, yes, lame, I know. *sighs*

The lack of pretty TezuFuji-ness was making me sad, so I x'd out the serious information from Rikkai and Hyoutei and moved it to the next chapter. In its place, I simply introduced said institutions (or partially, at least. I'm lazy XP) and put in... *insert drumroll here* TEZUFUJI!!! Where Fuji forces Tezuka to take him out on a dinner date. Yay!

And now I am happy because of the TezuFuji-ness (however faint it may be), and you can have the joy of reading all of these words! Sorry for swamping you all... I just kept writing... and writing... and writing... you get my drift?

**Reviews** are always loved! So click that little green button! And besides, I would love to hear how you guys want the next few TezuFuji scenes. It makes me feel like a god when I have many options to choose from. And that makes me happy. And happy author = more writing.

S'all good, right? Right. :)


	7. Test 6 – Never Forever

**_Test 6 – Never Forever_**

Fuji was lounging on his bed, whistling happily to himself, his stomach pleasantly full with delicious food and his heart light from the amusement that he had gotten from teasing Tezuka. The lithe young man stretched leisurely, flipping over so that he lay on his stomach. His wings folded on his back like a canopy, feathery and soft.

Tezuka had excused himself when they had returned from the dinner date. He seemed a bit flustered, like something was bothering him. Fuji decided to be kind and not point it out to him. Fuji grinned, nearly beamed, from where he lay on his bed, looking very much like a cat which had just caught a canary. In a way, Fuji supposed, he _had_. Tezuka was certainly a fine catch if he looked at it from the eyes of the opposite gender… tall, handsome, vastly intelligent, athletic… what more could one expect for husband-material?

_Ah… didn't he say that his relationships failed because of his un-compromising attitude?_ Fuji rolled back onto his back, spreading his wings out under him and reaching up, stroking one of the soft white feathers as his lips pursed lightly in thought. _Tezuka needs lessons on how to better express himself, _Fuji decided finally, sitting up and swinging off of the bed. There was a determined expression on his face. _Now… who would be the best teacher for that?_

He strode out of his room, a bounce in his step, intent on finding someone who would be suitable in teaching Tezuka how to show emotions so that he could have a working relationship, because for someone who had as many wonderful qualities as Tezuka, staying single was out of the question. Fuji was going to hook him up with someone before he left the institute!

A roar of, "Momoshiro! Fifty laps around the institute!" suddenly resounded throughout the floor, and Fuji paused in his happy trek, head tipped lightly to one side. That was distinctively Tezuka's voice, plus Fuji had by now grasped the fact that only Tezuka ordered laps around the institute. The door in front of him burst open, and Momo ran out, snickering as he moved to carry out his punishment. Seeing Fuji, his grin widened and he offered a cheery wave before scrambling towards the stairs when he saw Tezuka come out into the hall. The captain looked absolutely furious, Fuji wondered what could have happened to make him so angry and Momo so gleeful.

_Perhaps Momo made an attempt at blackmail?_ Fuji practically radiated anticipation as he crept towards Tezuka, mischievous smile on his face and a gleam in his smiling eyes. "Tezuka!" he cried happily, launching himself forward and onto the man in a successful glomp (Eiji had taught him well).

Tezuka went down with an 'oomph' and the two of them landed on the floor of the hallway in a tangle of limbs. Prying the smaller man off of him (or trying to, at least), Tezuka shot him a furious glare. "What?" he asked. Fuji simply cuddled up to him and refused to get off. "Fuji, never again am I taking you out to dinner," Tezuka grumbled, picking himself up off the ground and thus forcing Fuji to let go of him. The smaller man pouted, sitting on the floor and looking up at him with the most remorseful expression that Tezuka had ever seen.

"Why…?" he asked, sounding very much like a tiny child who had been deprived of his candy. "Don't you like going out to dinner with me?" He looked on the verge of tears and Tezuka could anticipate the headache that was sure to come in the next three minutes unless he removed Fuji from his immediate sight.

"Tezuka…!" Fuji whined, cerulean eyes getting big and watery as he tugged on Tezuka's sleeve.

Tezuka sighed, shaking his head as he disentangled Fuji's fingers from his sleeve. "Why don't you get some sleep? It's late; I'll walk you to your room."

Only when Tezuka let Fuji cling to his arm with that happy smile on his face (Fuji's face, not Tezuka's, mind you) and Tezuka read Fuji a story (where Fuji produced a storybook, Tezuka could only guess) did Fuji let Tezuka leave his sight and proceed with whatever he had planned on doing before Fuji entered into the picture. As Tezuka shut the door to the other man's room, he chanced a glance over his shoulder at a slumbering Fuji. He was curled up on his side, looking peaceful as could be, chest rising and falling in a gentle rhythm with his breathing.

_Why couldn't Fuji be more peaceful and docile when he was awake?_ Tezuka wondered, shaking his head and fully shutting the door with a gentle click. If he could, then there would be so much more peace in Tezuka's workplace.

His pants suddenly started to vibrate, and he fished out his cellphone, frowning as he flipped it open. Who would call him at his personal phone? There were very few people who knew his cell number. "Moshimoshi?" he asked, rubbing his temple with one hand as he continued down the hall to the conference room.

Oishi's voice greeted him, and it was laced with panic. "Tezuka, upper management just called!"

Tezuka's frown deepened. Hadn't he just spoken with them the other day? He honestly couldn't think of what could be so important that upper management needed to call him again after only one day had passed. They were, after all, notorious for placing a frighteningly large amount of time between calls. "What did they say?" he asked, wondering why Oishi was so panicked, until it dawned on him that his second-in-command had never been contacted by upper management before. This would have been a rather big shock for him, Tezuka supposed, although he did wish that Oishi would stop taking small things that didn't mean much with so much panic.

"They want to schedule a meeting," Oishi answered. There was a pause, in which Tezuka imagined that Oishi was taking several deep breaths to calm himself. Finally, he spoke again. "Upper management has set up a location… it's the coffee shop that's close to the Tokyo Dome. It's only a few stops by subway, I should think."

Tezuka felt his frown deepen some more. "A coffee shop…" he muttered. It was awfully… public… he felt. "Now?" he asked, glancing at his wristwatch. It was almost ten o'clock.

"Yes… they said that it was urgent and that they'd like to see us as soon as possible."

Tezuka sighed, pushing his glasses further up his nose. "Alright; I got it. I'll be at the front doors in five minutes."

"You sound tired, Tezuka. Take one of your pills first," Oishi commanded. "I don't want you collapsing in front of the higher ups." With those words of warning, Oishi hung up with a click, leaving Tezuka to meander to his room and dig out his medicine case. Finding himself a glass of water, he downed the small while pill in a single gulp, glowering at the warm taste of the water. For time's sake, he hadn't let the water run. Perhaps he should have just done that and save his mouth from having the aftertaste of still water. Oishi probably wouldn't have minded if he was a few minutes late, being the kind of person that he was.

"I let Eiji know we would be gone," Oishi told him as soon as the other had caught sight of him. "He and Taka-san will be reviewing the reports that Inui and the others will have." Tezuka nodded as they left the building, headed for the nearest bus stop, which would take them to the subway. They were silent as they waited for the bus, with Tezuka staring impassively in front of him and Oishi glancing at the sky. It was inky black, streaked with shades of blue from a dark indigo to a light cerulean. "Eiji… is really worried about Fuji," Oishi finally said quietly, his hands wringing themselves without him even trying to do it.

Tezuka tore his gaze from the street to turn to Oishi, one eyebrow raised ever so slightly being the only indication that he was interested in what the other man had to say. "Eiji is a lot more insightful than he wants us to think," Oishi continued, stilling his hands with only slight difficulty. "He really takes his job seriously, even if he doesn't show it."

_Best friends always know each other, don't they,_ Tezuka mused to himself as they got on the bus. Even he, rock as he was, could tell that Oishi and Eiji meant something special to each other. Of course, being nearly attached at the hip didn't hurt in helping him reach his conclusion. The energetic redhead, annoying as he could be at times, was a faithfully hard worker that Tezuka _did_ respect (although he never showed it. Eiji would just glomp him to death if he did). Oishi, even if he was too much of a worrier, was also someone Tezuka respected, both for his dedication and his kindness.

Actually, when Tezuka thought about it, there was at least one quality in each and every one of his team members that he valued. He had a good team and wouldn't ask for another one even if he was offered 50-million yen.

Twenty minutes later, he and Oishi arrived in front of the coffee shop that was designated as the meeting place. Inwardly, Tezuka cringed. He could see couples giggling to each other as they bent their heads together over sundaes for two. There were at least two groups of school children, possibly in their later years of junior high or early years of high school. He even glimpsed a few families through the glass, small children licking happily at ice cream.

"Couldn't upper management have picked a better place?" he ground out between his teeth. Oishi simply shrugged; he didn't know how the minds of those in upper management worked. If it was in a coffee shop than it would be in a coffee shop. If it was in a cell barred and locked with layers upon layers of security, then it would be in a cell barred locked with layers upon layers of security. They were powerless to suggest otherwise.

"Tezuka Kunimitsu and Oishi Shuichiro," Tezuka told the host, and the two men were directed away to a table booth. Tezuka very much considered slamming his head against a wall. If being in a coffee shop that was very open to the public wasn't a problem, now they had to sit in at window booth. Lovely; absolutely wonderful. Tezuka wondered if the members of upper management needed to get their heads checked, either because they wanted to talk about confidential matters in such a public place, or because they thought that he and Oishi had enough free time upon their hands to engage in idle small talk. It was just barely that Tezuka was able to hold his tongue as he and Oishi sat down opposite from the two people who formed a part of upper management.

"I don't believe we've ever met in person," said one of them, an old lady likely well into her seventies, with red-brown hair swept back into a ponytail, wearing purple and white sports attire, surprising both Tezuka and Oishi. There was a man seated next to her, perhaps only in his thirties, with slicked back brown hair and wearing a brown business-like suit. "My name is Ryuuzaki Sumire. This man here is Sakaki Tarou. We are two of the members of upper management." There was a round of nods and greetings as Tezuka and Oishi introduced themselves. "Thank you for coming to this meeting on such a short notice," Ryuuzaki said, and once again Tezuka and Oishi nodded.

"Our meeting is short, which is why we selected this coffee shop," Sakaki said, looking serious enough to rival Tezuka. "We only have a few key points to address, and when they're all covered, you two will be free to return to your institution and your research." Tezuka's eyes narrowed behind his glasses. He really didn't like the feeling he was getting from sitting here in front of these two people.

"We've reviewed the reports you and your team have sent in recently," Ryuuzaki said, sipping at her coffee. Tezuka shook his head when the waiter came to ask them if they wanted anything. Likewise, Oishi did, as well. The doctor also didn't feel so comfortable in these two people's company. "We've compared it with previous reports from other departments. It seems that the problems that have occurred with him at previous testings when he was little."

She clasped her hands together and leaned her chin on them, looking at the two young men in front of her, although her gaze lingered on Tezuka. "It seems to me that you're growing a bit… close… to Fuji Syusuke," she said finally, after several minutes of an awkward silence. She spoke again before Tezuka could even deny her statement. "Don't think that we in upper management are kept in the dark except for the occasional reports that you are required to send in," Ryuuzaki chided. Despite her association with the big bosses she was a rather nice figure, grandmotherly, and easier to approach than the others. It also didn't hurt that she _was_ the grandmother of their very own receptionist nurse, Sakuno. "We still have many eyes and ears in your institution. They are in places where you least expect them."

Her brown eyes glittered with knowledge that she had accumulated throughout her years, knowledge that Tezuka could only glimpse at and wonder at. "Tezuka, you have let down your guard," she said simply. "You must remember that Fuji Syusuke is a test subject. He is nothing more than that. Although he has a family that cares for him they know very well what he's in for." Oishi looked white at this point, his mind wrapping around the information just as Tezuka's did. Tezuka had to forcibly pinch himself in order to stop himself from snapping out that Fuji wasn't merely a thing to be tested on; something that was to bend to each and every whim of its masters.

Fuji was a person; a living, breathing person. He smiled, he laughed, he cried, he hurt just like anyone else.

"Right now you are defending him in your mind, aren't you, Tezuka?" Sakaki's voice cut into his musings, and Tezuka realized that he had been silent for ten seconds too long. "You forget what your occupation is. You are here to conduct research on why Fuji Syusuke has wings while we, the majority of the population, are wingless. You are to test the fundamental parts of him and see where they are different from ours in life. And then, in the end, you will see how they are different from ours in death."

Out of the corner of his eye Tezuka could see Oishi grip the edge of the table so hard that his knuckles turned white. Tezuka himself had no reaction, only nodding absentmindedly as the two older people got up to leave, paying their bill in the process.

"Pleasure and business are to be kept separate. Remember that, Tezuka," Ryuuzaki cautioned as she left the coffee shop. "You are doing something that will help the entirety of Japan. It will even affect the whole world. Emotions have no part in this."

She pushed open the door and stepped out. Sakaki turned back to look at them before following suite. "Don't let down your guard."

Tezuka sat in stony silence as his signature phrase was tossed back at him. Nothing had ever stung him so much inside. And the realization of the essence of the meeting was just then beginning to settle itself in his head, a cold wave that washed over his body and left him shivering with nothing warm to wrap around himself. Fuji was going to die. No, he wasn't going to die, exactly…

_Fuji__ is going to be murdered,_ Tezuka thought, growing colder by the minute. _He is going to be murdered… by me._

***

Echizen flopped down on a chair in the conference room, thoroughly winded, and heaved a huge sigh. "Never, never ever, send me back to Hyoutei," he groaned, running a hand through his black hair. "I can do without that annoying Monkey King for the rest of my life."

At this statement, Eiji raised an eyebrow. "Hoi? Atobe's like that," he said brightly, snickering to himself about how Echizen looked at that moment, leaning back against his chair as he was. The golden cat-like eyes were closed, an expression that bordered between annoyance and absolute exhaustion constantly flickered about his face. "It takes a while to get used to him, but he's an invaluable resource. Isn't that right, Inui?" Eiji slung an arm around the taller man, grinning widely.

Taka poured out mugs of fresh coffee for everyone before regarding Echizen curiously. "How exactly did your visit to Hyoutei go? And where's Tezuka? I would think that he should be here for us to begin the reports." The last part was addressed to them all.

"Upper management called Tezuka and Oishi to a meeting," Eiji informed them, disentangling his arm from around Inui's neck and plopping down into the nearest chair. He had a troubled look on his face. "Oishi sounded really worried about it, nya… I hope it's nothing serious."

They were all silent as they sipped their coffee before Eiji gave a rough shake of his head, setting down his mug so hard that some of the bitter, brown liquid was in danger of sloshing out of the cup. "Forget about that! They'll tell us about when they get back!" Eiji said, forcing himself to sound cheerful. He fooled no one; everyone could tell that recent events were gnawing away at the young psychologist. "We'll start our meeting, then," Eiji said, determination laced into his voice. He took a seat and gestured to all who were standing to do the same. "We'll file a report and then give it to Tezuka when he returns. If he has any questions he'll be able to directly ask, then. Are we all in agreement?"

There was a chorus of 'hai,' before Inui's trusty laptop was opened and handed over to Eiji for note-taking (Eiji had once held a job as a secretary, although he found that he didn't quite like that line of work). "Kaidoh and O'ochibi can start, nya!" Eiji said brightly, pushing away dark thoughts of what could be happening with his two favorite superiors to the back of his subconscious as he booted up the computer and opened a fresh document. His fingers poised themselves over the keyboard, ready to descend upon the keys as soon as any of the two started talking. "Whenever you're ready!" he called out in encouragement.

The two were silent for a few moments as they gathered together their thoughts. Kaidoh let out a hiss as he ruffled through several pages of notes, both handwritten and copied printouts, while Echizen pulled himself back up into a proper, sitting position. "We spent the whole time in Atobe-san's office," Echizen said finally, nursing his mug of coffee between his two hands. "He was an interesting character, I guess…"

_"Hmm…? You wished to speak with Ore-sama?"_

_Kaidoh nodded, and gave Echizen a pointed glare. Echizen wisely bit back the spicy retort that had sprang to his tongue and instead tried to look politely at the arrogant man sitting in front of him. Standing at the man's side was Oshitari Yuushi, who looked faintly bemused at the two of them as he pushed his glasses up to a firmer position on his nose. "Tezuka sent you?" he asked, receiving another nod._

_The four of them were in a lavishly furnished office that could only belong to one of the richest snobs in all of Japan, perhaps all of the world. The furniture was all carved from a dark mahogany, elaborately carved with many, many intricate designs. Hand-crafted, each and every one of them (and there were quite a lot of furniture pieces in Atobe's spacious office), Echizen didn't even dare try to **think** about how much that all cost to obtain. Certainly more then his salary could provide, even if he received a rather high pay. It was also, probably, more than all the money everyone had if every single one of them from the team pooled their salaries together._

_And if the furniture itself was something of a feat to get over, then came the accessories. Little trinkets, made of crystal, gold, silver, or other precious metals decorated the desk, the shelves, any available surface. Yet they were arranged in such a way that it didn't seem like Atobe's office was simply a hoard for rare oddities. Someone, be it servant or Atobe himself, had obviously spent hours placing each and every ornament in its spot, taking care to make it balance with the furniture it was sitting on, the walls around it, and the other ornaments that shared the room with it. Altogether it made for a dazzling display that momentarily blinded Kaidoh and Echizen and thus stopped them from getting straight to the point of their visit._

_Not that Atobe seemed to mind their ogling, of course. He seemed rather proud of himself, actually, and allowed them to stare until their manners and upbringing finally caught up with them and they straightened, looking embarrassed. "Ore-sama does not usually receive guests in his private office," Atobe said, smirking, still seemingly pleased. "However, since you are Tezuka's fledgings and Tezuka has asked for information on a specific topic, there is no other place that will serve our purposes as well as this one." Here, he stopped smirking and instead became serious. "Tell me, then. You are here to gather information about an angel. Is Ore-sama correct?"_

_Their surprised looks answered well where their voices failed them. "Ore-sama has many methods of knowing what his guests want from him," Atobe said fluidly, getting up from the armchair he had seated himself in previously and relocating to the chair behind the desk. "Sit," he commanded, and they obeyed. Oshitari removed several manila folders from a filing cabinet and handed them to Atobe before sitting down in the previously occupied armchair. "As it is, all of the institutions, Seigaku, Rikkai, and our very own Hyoutei, are connected to each other via the members of upper management. That is why Ore-sama was able to anticipate your arrival. As we speak now the last of the files regarding Fuji Syusuke are being gathered. They will be sent up shortly for discussion and examination."_

"True to his word, the files were brought up to his office," Kaidoh said. "It was all highly confidential; each file addressed a different aspect of Fuji. Some aspects were so large that they required more than one folder. The summary of Fuji's stay at Hyoutei was documented into a timeline and took up three folders itself. They're very thorough."

"But that doesn't seem to be what caught your attention," Inui noted, rubbing his chin with one hand. "It should have been no surprise to you that Hyoutei was so thorough in their examinations of Fuji. There can not be a successful research body who is not thorough."

"True," Echizen mumbled, taking a sip of his coffee and letting the bitter drink wash down his throat. "But Fuji's family talked about Fuji going into Nagoya Seitoku, right? Hyoutei has a nearly complete record of Fuji's stay there."

This caught everyone's attention. "They did?" Taka asked, leaning forward, startled.

"They did," Kaidoh agreed. "That was perhaps the most dangerous of the files. Nagoya Seitoku… they were harsh." He gave a shake of his head, as if remembering something unpleasant that he would rather have forgotten.

"But how was Hyoutei able to obtain files of _them_?" Eiji whined from his spot behind the computer. "Nagoya Seitoku isn't part of the Tokyo Research Network that we're in. To have direct files would be… would be…"

"…a breach in confidentiality," came a quiet voice behind them. They all jumped and turned to see Fuji standing there in the open doorway. "Under normal circumstances, one can assume that Hyoutei infiltrated the other and seized the files by force. But that's not true." Cerulean eyes gazed out at them all, and for the first time, they all realized how empty they looked. How pained. How terribly, terribly tired. It was like those beautiful eyes wanted nothing more than to close and never open again.

"You see… I gave up all of the information. I recounted all of my experiences." And somehow, they felt that that was the first omen of disaster.

***

Fuji could remember. He could remember very well the days when he was young. When he was whole. When he hadn't been plagued by this other self and when he had no kingdom to look after and watch crumble into a wasted nothing. He could remember, very clearly, all of the looks that the other children in school and his teachers had given him when he demanded that his wings not be taken off, for more than one reason.

'He's such a bright child,' his teachers would sigh to their fellow teachers or to his parents at parent day. 'He grasps concepts very well and very quickly, but he still is so childish. It's like a certain part of his mind rebels against the other part and demands on being a bit backward.'

'Why do you always wear that angel costume, Fuji-kun?' his classmates would ask. Fuji would always shrug and the girls would always pet his wings, exclaiming over their softness. The boys, disgusted even then at that tender age of six of his popularity with said girls shunned him. Fuji wasn't allowed in their games of tag, of hide-and-seek, of mini-war in the playground. The girls would rebuke them from time to time and he'd be admitted to play grudgingly, but for the most part he would amuse himself at recess with storybooks and the like, or trundle off down the hall to find his little brother Yuuta.

_Sweet, sweet Yuuta,_ Fuji thought, a small smile on his lips, a melancholic and sorrowful one. _My dear, sweet, baby brother Yuuta._

Fuji knew that Yuuta cared for him. Despite that tough act that Yuuta put on, despite the way that Yuuta shoved him roughly away when he hugged him or teased him, despite the way that Yuuta went out of his way to refuse any offer of a home visit from school… Fuji knew that Yuuta still had that thing in him called 'brotherly love.'

Fuji also knew that Yuuta, just like his parents and his older sister, would never intentionally hurt him. But just because one doesn't want to hurt someone doesn't mean that they won't do it by accident. If Fuji closed his eyes and willed himself, he could take himself back to his third grade year, where he stood at the doorway to the living room, crouching so that his body was hidden behind wall and leaning forward so that only his head poked through the doorway so that he could spy on his family. Seated on the couch, the other four members of the Fuji household sat in an awkward yet serious silence, staring at a single sheet of paper on the coffee table (Fuji could remember that it had been cleared of all its clutter, something that never happened even if the mountain of stuff threatened to fall to the floor).

'Syusuke will be gone for awhile if we agree to this,' his mother had said, frowning slightly at the sheet of paper. "Anata, are you really sure this is a good idea?'

Fuji's father, who at that time had just gotten his promotion and was to be leaving in a week, had nodded his head stubbornly. 'They'll be able to find out what's different with Syusuke and fix him so that he can have more friends at school. As parents, we must make sure that our children are accepted.'

Fuji's mother had sighed, then. 'Yes, that's true. But as a mother, I also believe that Syusuke should simply be accepted for who he really is.' She gave the paper another frown before pasting on her usual smile. Yumiko and Yuuta glanced quietly at their parents; Yumiko looking worried but to a lesser degree than her mother and Yuuta looking innocently puzzled.

'Where's Aniki going?' he asked, his head tilted to one side, gray eyes wide with curiosity. 'Can I go, too?'

At that point his mother had burst into tears and swooped down to cuddle Yuuta to her, which only succeeded in puzzled the second grader some more. 'No, Yuuta, dear. I'm afraid you won't be able to go with him.'

Yuuta had considered this for a few moments and a dark frown had appeared on his face. 'Phoo,' was the first thing that came out of his mouth. Set back down on the ground, Yuuta looked up at his parents with as much sternness as a second grade boy could muster, complete with hands planted impishly on his hips. 'Aniki had better come back, then! Home isn't home without Aniki!'

At that, Yoshiko had tried to put on a brave face through her tears, Yumiko had smiled at her littlest brother, and their father had patted his head. Then, he picked up a pen and signed something at the bottom of the sheet of paper.

Perhaps Fuji had known then that his family had quite nearly signed his life away to some people who he didn't know. He couldn't remember, though, couldn't ascertain it. He _did_ know, however, that Yuuta had run through the house screaming his name, had tackled him forcibly to the ground upon finding him (thankfully they had landed on his bed), and had promptly started to wail. 'Aniki will come back, won't he?' he had asked, so cutely and so sorrowfully that Fuji's heart simply broke in two.

'Yes, Aniki will come back. I promise, Yuuta,' he had answered, holding out his pinky and letting his little brother hook his to it. 'Yuuta, Aniki will definitely come back.' That night, the two brothers had shared a bed before Fuji left for Nagoya Seitoku.

If Fuji tried a bit harder in his reminiscing he could force himself to go back to his days while in the labs of Nagoya Seitoku and away from his adorable little brother, although he by far preferred the memories his brother offered him than the cold steel of the first labs. The tests there were not much different from those in Seigaku, but they tested for limits. It wasn't uncommon for Fuji to pass out because he had been given not enough rest from his previous test in order to recuperate. And when he was out cold they prodded and poked and did a manner of other tests upon his unconscious body, so that when he woke up later on he would not only be tired and dazed but his body would be aching, too.

"Master," a soft voice cooed, purring into his ear. "Master, you mustn't think of these things. Let me speak with these men. There's something I've always wanted to make clear."

It was a great shock to the Seigaku members (minus Tezuka and Oishi, because they weren't there) when Fuji's eyes closed and he reeled, looking like he was going to collapse. But before anyone could grab him and get him into a chair he had regained his balance, although his eyes still remained closed. That tired little smile widened into a smirk. Fuji's slightly paler than normal skin darkened to a healthier color. The feathers in his wings changed from pure white to smoky grey and then finally became pitch-black, as if covered by tar, but when Eiji reached out a finger tentatively to poke it he discovered that the feathers were still as soft as ever.

And then the scars… they laced over his arms, jagged and thin. One made its way under his eye, extending halfway down his cheek. And for the briefest moment, when the transformation between Fuji and this new Fuji was taking place, they could see his chest. Above his heart was a jagged mess of them, thick and dark.

"I don't believe we've met, before. Master was always partial to the fact that I behaved myself." His eyes opened, and they were no longer tired. They were still cerulean but tainted with a deeper, indigo blue and they were hard, two chips of dark sapphire. There was a mocking glint in those eyes. "Personally I don't see why. I think I behave pretty well."

"But I mustn't forget my manners. Master would be shocked if I talk of myself as well-behaved and forget them." He smiled, but it was nothing like Fuji's smile. It was more of a sneer, full of contempt. "Although I honestly don't know why I should bother. Master Fuji is a funny person."

"Introduction," Eiji prompted, wondering why this new Fuji kept referring to the old one as 'Master.'

"Yes, yes." He gave a vague wave of his hand. "I… have no name of my own. I share one with Master because I am him and he is me." He leaned forward so that he could rest his hands on the table and brought his face close to Kaidoh. "Those Nagoya Seitoku files you saw in Hyoutei? If you read through them you'll find several entries of me." He straightened up. "Why, you ask? It is because while there, I was born. I am Master Fuji's soul, tainted dark. Master cannot live a life if he is burdened down by pain, so I am the one who carries Master's past memories and scars."

His gaze swept over them all, not lingering on them but seeming to judge them efficiently at the same time. "Master was betrayed too many times by you people who claim to help him. No one wanted to help Master. They just toyed with him. Master is nothing but a toy… he is not living; he is not flesh and bone. Therefore it is alright for you to strap Master into machines made of cold steel, test him, hurt him, and when he passes out what do you care? Master is only a test subject, nothing more. Isn't that what your upper management has drilled into your heads?"

His eyes narrowed. "I'll tell you right now: don't you dare try to sugar-coat any of your words and give Master false hope. Even if I enjoy tormenting my dear Master a servant always wishes the best for his master. Similarly, so do I."

His gaze flickered over to Inui. "You're the data man, aren't you? I'll give you something to think about; see if your data and percentages can answer this." His head tilted to the side as he contemplated Inui, as if wondering to himself how hard should the question be. "If you fix something that's broken, will it ever be whole again? If you purify something that's tainted, will it ever become clean? And if, in the process of fixing and cleaning, you break or dirty it some more, will it ever become what it used to be?"

Inui was silent, thinking this over. The others were silent as well, all mulling over those questions. Fuji's so-called 'servant' leaned forward once again. "I'll tell you something more," he said slowly. "When you change something, whether for the better or the worse, you can never revert it to what it used to be. There is nothing such as eternity; everything ends sooner or later."

He straightened up. "Humans are selfish. They always want things to stay the same. They cling desperately to the concept of 'forever' like it can save them. There was never a 'forever' for Master. Master didn't have any constants. Everything that he thought wouldn't change _did_ change; everyone that he thought wouldn't leave _did_ leave."

And with that, he fell silent, changing back into the regular Fuji who stared at the quiet men with something akin to puzzlement in his pretty eyes. But when he asked what was wrong nobody answered, instead giving each other uneasy glances. That other Fuji… he had hit a little too close to home for any of there likings.

* * *

A/N: Bleh. The transitions was a bit too fast for my taste but I honestly don't like how nothing's moving like I wanted it to. So, sorry, Fuji. More torment for you. And more torment for Tezuka, too. I suspect it will only be angsty TezuFuji moments from now on. *sighs*

And Dark!Fuji will be a bit more prominent. I'm sorry, Teresa... I failed at describing his scars and elaborating on the concept. That plot bunny had an early leave. I think I shall just have to elaborate on it more, later.

**Reviews** are loved and appreciated like always. You know what to do. ;)


	8. Test 7 – Fear

**__**

Test 7 – Fear

"And that's it," Eiji concluded, looking a combination of breathless, worried, and anxious. "Fuji just popped up and then this other Fuji appeared! He said he was Fuji's soul and then he carried Fuji's pain and… and…" Eiji trailed off, sucking in air like a beached fish. Oishi's face looked strained, the doctor's green eyes clouded with worry. Tezuka, though… he had no reaction at all.

"We'll withhold testing for a few days. I want to get to the bottom of this other Fuji business," he said. His voice was impassive, as if he didn't care about any of this. "Kikumaru, tell Inui to send up the files of Fuji's stay at Nagoya Seitoku to my office. I will review them, along with the reports from last night. Dismissed."

Eiji opened his mouth to protest, but then thought better of it and shut it again, giving a firm nod. Turning around, he vanished around the corner in search of Inui, and Oishi sighed. "Eiji will get you for that," he said wearily, before his green gaze flickered to the bespectacled man. "Eiji was always close to Fuji ever since he came here; he'll be bound to say a few words in Fuji's defense should the need arise."

He fell silent but then spoke again. "Are you sure you want to leave it like this? He'll find out soon enough." He did not elaborate, but Tezuka knew who Oishi was referring to when he mentioned 'he'.

"Kikumaru can do whatever he wants. He can't sway the decision of upper management." He sighed, taking off his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose, feeling suddenly exhausted. "Neither can we, no matter how we look at it. We are servants for a king, forced to do whatever the king wants." Putting his glasses back on and pushing them into position, he sighed. "As for Fuji…"

He trailed off, not finishing his thought. "Get some rest, Oishi. Ask Kawamura for alcohol or something; I'm sure he'll be willing to part with it for a bit. You need to sleep."

Oishi raised an eyebrow. "You're purposely trying to get rid of me, aren't you, Tezuka? You know I have a low alcohol tolerance and I'll be conked out on the floor if I have any." But he started heading to the cafeteria and Taka's kingdom anyways, despite his protests. "I think some tea will do. Would you like some? Tea is a natural stress reliever, after all."

Tezuka declined politely and Oishi vanished from his sight, leaving him alone in the empty hallway, his usual stoic face marred with a small frown. Stress reliever… did he really look like he needed a stress reliever? Shaking his head slightly, he started down the hall in the opposite direction as Oishi, finally letting his mind wander to thoughts he had forcibly shoved to the back of his subconscious.

Now, Tezuka was not a man who tended to brood over topics. He'd give a topic serious thought, yes, and he'd frown a bit more than usual if that specific topic demanded it, but he did not brood over things.

Neither was he the kind of person who pushed the inevitable things that he would rather not think about to the back of his mind in hopes of forgetting all about it. Tezuka's approach to things that were new to him was to look at it from as many angles as possible, analyze it, study it, and then voice his thoughts on the matter. Occasionally he'd consult other sources, most of those being Inui and his trusty notebooks. Never did he try to shove something to the back of his unconsciousness and hope, fervently and feverishly, to forget everything about it.

And then Fuji had come in. Fuji, with his beautiful white angel wings, with his actions that screamed to the world how hurt he was, with his small smile that at the same time told the world that he was absolutely fine… Fuji had waltzed into Tezuka's perfect logical world and had tipped it upside down without even batting an eyelash. All of Tezuka's previous methods for taking on a task could no longer be used; Tezuka was not dealing with _science_ anymore. He was dealing with morals, with ethics, with _feelings_.

Science was all fact. In its purest form it was nothing more than facts. A scientist studies something and can say why it happens the way it happens. Facts never changed.

Feelings… people… they were an entire different matter, foreign to the science-governed Tezuka. Feelings were fluctuating things… always changing, no matter what. They were not like the facts that science ran on, which were made of stone and could not be bent, no matter how hard one tried. One could not look at a person and the feelings that person had, analyze it, and then say why it was so, or whether or not it would stay that way. There was simply no way to it.

There was a reason Tezuka liked science and tried to limit his contact with people. It wasn't because he was entirely anti-social… if given the right people Tezuka could most likely talk like the best of them (most likely because he had never tried it out, not having found the appropriate company). It was the fact that people were so hard to analyze, to know, that irked him, and which subsequently pushed him into purposely finding ways to leave them be. And so Tezuka had turned to science. Working in a lab had given him a valid excuse of avoiding social gatherings. His lab work awaited him, the assistants in the lab asked him to help with something…

Tezuka did not question the results that science yielded to him. He could test it again and again and again and get the same answer, and if he didn't, he could easily look at his data table and discover why something had messed up. People, on the other hand, didn't come with their own data tables. The words they said was prompted by emotions and feeling, and Tezuka was wary of them. They were not entirely truthful.

"Tezuka…"

So bent in his musings was he that he had failed to hear that soft voice calling his name, a pleading tone in it. A deep frown on his face, Tezuka had walked right past the doorway where Fuji was standing, looking sadly at him, a wonderfully constructed look upon his face that resembled that of a kicked puppy, or a child who thought that his mother had abandoned him. Had Tezuka noticed that look, he would have stopped at once and asked what was bothering Fuji, perhaps lugging the smaller man to Oishi's infirmary or Eiji's self-made, cheery psychiatric ward (the redhead had dragged all of them to the general store once, Fuji included after they had figured out how to disguise his wings, and had handpicked the wallpaper for the room to match Fuji's taste. That was why when one walked into the room he had the immediate sense of falling through the air… wallpaper and other accessories combined, Eiji and Fuji had created a spot in the world where one could stand suspended in the air), all the while lecturing him on being careful and not letting down his guard.

"Tezuka…"

Fuji repeated himself, and this time his voice had a twinge of panic in it. Was Tezuka angry at him? The rest of the team members must have told him about what happened in the conference room. Perhaps Tezuka was angry because Fuji had crashed in on something confidential, so that was why his back was so stiff, why he was walking past Fuji without so much as sparing a glance for the smaller man. Even despite Fuji's best efforts he could not stop his lower lip from trembling.

"Tezuka…" He repeated himself for the third time, and still Tezuka did not acknowledge him.

_He's angry at me,_ Fuji thought. _He's angry at me for barging into that meeting and letting… my other self out. He's thinking about what a failure I am at a test subject and how it is better if he never met me, never sees me again. _Fuji swallowed nervously._ He is trying to forget me, to erase me from his memory, so he doesn't need to remember and be reminded of how stupid and silly and horribly, horribly strange I am._

Fuji did not know why, but the thought of Tezuka trying to forget him was like icy water travelling up and down his spine. His eyes snapped open, and the bright cerulean orbs were wide with absolute terror. He didn't want to be forgotten… he didn't want to lost what little support he had.

He didn't want to be left alone, all by himself.

"Tezuka… Tezuka… TEZUKA!" he shrieked out, voice gaining volume and hysteria as he repeated that name, as if he could will the words into something solid that he could hold onto. This time the man heard, and when he turned around, Fuji saw hazel eyes widen in surprise.

_He's surprised,_ Fuji thought feverishly to himself. _He must have just convinced himself that I don't exist. Now he's going to walk over and ask who I am and what I'm doing here, or worse, just turn around and walk away._ At this point the winged man was near tears, still for reasons that he did not fully comprehend.

Tezuka started towards him, and Fuji trembled at each step Tezuka took towards him. Finally, when Tezuka was a step away from him, he squeezed his eyes shut, preparing for those words: "Who are you?"

They never came. Instead, two hands descended on his shoulders, and Fuji was drawn out into the hall. "Fuji," Tezuka said, frowning as he studied the other man. "What's wrong? Are you hurt anywhere? Are you feeling alright?"

A small sniffle answered his questions, and suddenly Tezuka found himself with an armful of Fuji. "I'm sorry!" Fuji was sobbing into his shirt front, leaving Tezuka rather confused. "I'm sorry, Tezuka, I'm sorry! Please don't be angry at me! I promise I'll keep my other self under control and all that… just please don't ignore me!"

Fuji's hands clenched onto Tezuka's shirt. "Please don't ignore me," he repeated hoarsely. "Please don't forget me…"

Tezuka opened his mouth to speak, but Fuji beat him to it.

"Please don't leave me alone… Tezuka… I need you…" Fuji took a deep, shuddering breath. "I need you, Tezuka…"

***

"Athazagoraphobia," Eiji said, the long word leaving his mouth easily. The redhead continued to nibble on his cookie as he studied Tezuka, indigo ones focused on hazel.

Tezuka processed the word through his mind, and after a few moments of pause, asked, "Pardon?"

"Athazagoraphobia," Eiji repeated, finishing the rest of his cookies and brushing the crumbs off of his hands. His tongue swiped out of his mouth to lick at the crumbs at the corners of his lips before he would explain. "It's a fear of forgetting or being forgotten about, or an irrational fear of forgetting, being forgotten or ignored, or being replaced."

He sighed, slumping back against his chair and resting his elbows on the tabletop, his eyes looking to the ceiling as if the words he wanted to say were conveniently taped up there among the tiles. "I think Fujiko might also suffer from a bit of monophobia, which was probably triggered by his fear of being forgotten." Tezuka remained silent, waiting for the definition of this new psychological term that he did not fully understand. "Monophobia is the fear of being alone and having to cope without a specific person, or perhaps any person. In Fuji's case, I would suppose that it would be both in close proximity or far away."

A troubled look made its way across Eiji's usually carefree face. "Tezuka, you were walking away from him and didn't hear him when he called you, right?" he asked. Tezuka offered a muted nod, sipping tiredly from a cup of the strongest coffee Taka had ever brewed for him (in the end, Tezuka had relented to the kitchen cabinet which housed alcohol and had poured some into his coffee. It resulted in a slightly funny taste that was coffee yet not coffee and vodka yet not vodka, but Tezuka figured he'd need the alcohol-induced sleep later on). Eiji directed his gaze from the ceiling to the floor. "And he said that he didn't want you to be angry at him…" he mumbled.

Here, Tezuka frowned, downing another gulp of coffee before setting the mug down on the table. "What would anger have to do with forgetting and being alone?" he asked. He did not see how it all connected together.

Eiji, though, obviously did, and flicked him impatiently on the forehead. Tezuka suppressed the urge to twitch; had Eiji not been helping him at the moment with crucial matters the redhead would have found himself outside, in the rain (it had started to pour rather hard a few minutes ago), running laps upon laps upon laps. But since Tezuka needed his help (although he didn't quite want to admit it), Eiji was saved from the punishment. "He probably thought that you were so angry at him that you would want to forget all about him or ignore him for some time," Eiji scolded. "Chances are, when the other people Fuji was with before were angered, they would leave him alone, all by himself, even if he didn't do the act that angered them. If that's the case, than Fujiko clinging to you and literally sobbing for you to stop being angry at him was simply a natural reaction to protect himself. All people try to limit the amount of exposures that will cause them fear; it's a natural instinct." He took a deep breath, thinking over the next few words that he wanted to say. "Fujiko probably knows that anger leads to semi-abandonment, and that that semi-abandonment will trigger his monophobia. And, if something if abandoned or ignored for long enough, you know what happens, don't you, Tezuka?"

"They are forgotten," Tezuka answered slowly, picking up his mug again but not drinking any of its contents. "Yes… I see how it works."

Eiji looked sadly at the ground. "Tezuka, I've seen this other side of Fuji. It's much stronger that _our_ Fuji, and I just know from some gut instinct that Fuji's control on this… other Fuji is very loose." Those pained indigo orbs lifted and looked at Tezuka. "Tezuka, if Fuji said that he'd try to keep that other side of him under control, than it's obvious that he's beyond frightened, and will do anything to quell that fear of his." Finishing his little speech, he pushed himself away from the table, bid Tezuka good-night, and slid out of the cafeteria.

Outside of the door stood Oishi, who had heard all of the words exchanged between Eiji and Tezuka. Eiji saw him, stopped walking for a few minutes, and it struck both of them at how incredibly _old _they looked, how incredibly old and strained and tired they and Tezuka had looked and still looked over these past few days.

Eiji padded over to Oishi and reached over so that he could clasp Oishi's hands in his own. "He'll hurt himself, Oishi. He'll destroy what's left of him," Eiji whispered, his voice choking up. He hadn't taken all of those psychology classes for nothing. He knew what Fuji was hiding, all the pain and the fear, and he could see the wounds that Fuji carried on him, and yet he couldn't help him, couldn't truly help him, much as he wanted to.

"Oishi…" he whispered, and the doctor instinctively pulled the redhead towards him in a protective embrace. Eiji quivered against his shoulder. "Oishi… I'm so afraid.

"So very, very afraid…"

***

On second thought, ingesting so much alcohol was a bad idea, even if it did guarantee that he sleep like a baby later on. Tezuka hadn't touched a drop of that legal poison in years (although he had never really been much of a heavy drinker, per se), and he had forgotten that with alcohol came the dizziness, the throbbing headaches, the heat.

His world slid in and out of focus even with his glasses on and Tezuka cursed himself for his rash behavior. He should have done as Oishi had suggested, and gone with tea. It would have saved him the agony of trying to maneuver his way to his room (forget about his office and files Inui had no doubt put on his desk, if Tezuka could make it back to his room in one piece, he would consider it a personal victory). He couldn't see straight, couldn't walk in a straight line, could barely even stand without leaning against something.

He cursed his low tolerance to alcohol under his breath, employing a rather colorful display of words that no one knew he knew.

If only his body didn't feel so hot. If only there wasn't this twinging pain in the pit of his stomach that he knew came not from the alcohol. If only his heart didn't suddenly hurt so much. While Tezuka knew he wasn't the kind of man who liked to push things to the back of his mind, he did, however, lock things up.

Things like heartache and grief and that feeling that screamed for someone to come find him.

The problem with alcohol, he decided in his half-drunken state, was that one only truly forgot everything if he drank so much he nearly killed himself. They needed to go beyond drunk. Tezuka had been at that stage once in his lifetime, and he would admit, it felt wonderful. It didn't give you a feeling that you were untouchable, that nothing could touch you, and it didn't leave you happy, but it sort of lifted you up, until you felt like you had blended in with the air. You became an observer of everything that happened, you felt nothing.

Of course, the hangover he had experienced later on was far from pleasant, but for a period of twenty-four hours, Tezuka had been safe. He hadn't been a human. He had truly achieved the title of a rock, seeing all but feeling nothing.

The amount of alcohol he had had, though, it had only been sufficient enough at unlocking all those emotions Tezuka had so painstakingly locked up. Tezuka's hazel eyes narrowed and another string of curses slipped out of his throat before he could stop himself, as in his new clumsiness he had bumped into something and had been sent veering in the opposite direction. _Focus,_ he told himself sternly. _You can still see. You're not **that** far over._

Cold hands, the total opposite of his burning face, suddenly were placed on his neck. Tezuka flinched, trying to pull away, but those hands slid from neck to chest and finally around his middle. "Tezuka," he could hear, a soft voice whispering his name in his ear. "Tezuka, alcohol isn't good for your health."

Tezuka grunted in reply as the owner of the hands tightened his hold on him. Now, Tezuka could feel something resting gently on his back, and something soft was tickling the nape of neck. "What is it, Tezuka?" that voice murmured, "What is it that only alcohol can unlock?"

"Why do you care?"

There was a period of silence before he was answered. "Because, Tezuka, I've watched you. You're strong. You are a pillar, seemingly perfect, but with cracks in the foundation. The alcohol, in a sense, is a probe, a prick of light that examines your very foundation. Only with that can one see the cracks."

Tezuka offered a dry, humorless laugh. "So I'm cracked, Fuji. Why is that?"

"I don't know, Tezuka. Was there ever a reason for you to be cracked? For your perfect façade to start to fade away?"

Tezuka was silent, thinking to the best of his ability with his alcohol-tampered mind. 'Death,' Sakaki had said. 'Test the fundamental parts that make up Fuji Syusuke,' was his exact words. And Tezuka had been able to connect that phrase with only one word: murder.

The intention was clear as day. Fuji would die at this institution.

Tezuka swallowed, closing his eyes, and he gave a tired, deflated sigh. "Fuji…" he said slowly.

"Yes, Tezuka?"

"If I am human, then I am capable of being afraid, am I not?"

"Of course," was Fuji's answer, "everyone can be afraid."

Tezuka reached over to his stomach so that his hand could cover Fuji's smaller one. "Then, Fuji, I am afraid. I am afraid of death."

There was another moment of silence while Tezuka removed his hand. Suddenly, he was rocking, gently, back and forth, and Tezuka knew that Fuji understood everything. "I know, Tezuka," Fuji said softly, still moving so that the two of them were swaying ever-so-gently in the hallway. "I know."

_Because I am afraid of death, too._

* * *

A/N: I blame school and AP World History homework. And maybe tennis, for my inability to update. AP World homework takes hours to finish (not kidding, two hours average for each assignment) and tennis runs from three to 5:30-ish. So the glorious weekend is crammed with more homework that I need to do as well as writing. But I like writing, so that balances out the 'ech' of homework.

I wish school didn't have so much homework... and I wished I had a lunch...

But anyways...! I failed. Sorry. I diverged a bit from main topic and went on about... other crap. Brain is fried from too much school.

Comments and critques are appreciated, in review form would be best *jabs madly at review button* Please, please, please? It would make me a very happy little authoress. :)


	9. Test 8 – Together

**_Test 8 – Together_**

Fuji shifted carefully on the bed, trying to be as quiet as heavenly possible. Actually, given the current circumstances, he wouldn't have tried to move, but his current position had been uncomfortable for his wings and so after dealing with it for as long as he could, he finally made up his mind to move.

The winged man kept a close eye on the other side of his bed, where Tezuka was sleeping peacefully. Fuji had tried to maneuver the bespectacled man to his own room, but after trying for five minutes he realized that he had no idea where Tezuka lived in the institute. However, it was obvious that the man needed to sleep off the alcohol and so Fuji had compensated his lack of knowledge with the bed in his own room. It had proved a tight fit, but in the end, Fuji was quite proud with the fact that he had managed to fit them both on the bed. He'd have found himself another place to sleep had the nights not been so cold; he had found that he quite liked the warmth of his covers.

His gaze lingered on the other man's face, eyes tracing over every detail, lips twitching into a small smile at how simply _peaceful_ Tezuka looked when he was asleep. Occasionally, a tiny smile would flicker across the sleeping man's face. Fuji definitely thought that it was a lot more appealing and attractive then Tezuka's usual frown.

"You need to smile more," he couldn't help but whisper, and the man stirred slightly in his sleep. Instantly, Fuji shut his mouth, fearing that he had woken Tezuka up. But Tezuka simply continued to sleep on, and Fuji let out a little relieved sigh…

Only to be jolted from his just-reached relaxed state when Tezuka spoke. The words came out muffled and incomprehensible, but Tezuka was awake, that Fuji knew, and the tiniest shred of panic stirred within his chest, as he started searching frantically in his mind for a believable excuse to give the no-nonsense-tolerated person that was Tezuka Kunimitsu (he would have opted for escaping the room, but there was no time for that).

"Fuji…?" A puzzled Tezuka stared blearily up at the frozen Fuji, hazel eyes bleary from sleep. His mind, too, was clouded over, and at first he couldn't register why he was looking up at Fuji's face. Slowly, though, the sleep ebbed away from his system and he became more awake, although he was painfully aware of the slight throbbing just above his temple. Tezuka was silent for a few moments as his mind processed what had happened before his hand reached out automatically, searching for his glasses, a habitual movement.

"Glasses," he mumbled, when a fuzzy Fuji gave him a curious glance. Instantly, Fuji was off the bed and scurrying over to the desk on the other side of the room, returning with the spectacles in his hand. Wordlessly, he handed them to Tezuka, who placed them on the bridge of his nose, watching as his world became less fuzzy and clearer. Upon a quick examination he noted that he was not in his room.

He couldn't say that was very surprised.

"Did I trouble you… last night?" Tezuka asked, pushing himself up into a sitting position, rubbing his temples wearily.

Fuji shook his head, looking a bit bashful. "No, not at all," he hastened to assure Tezuka. "I would have taken you to your own room but I realized that I didn't know where it was. I hope you didn't mind spending the night here." _What a silly thing to say,_ Fuji thought to himself as he waited for Tezuka to answer. _He was fast asleep by the time I got to the door. He couldn't have minded even if he had wanted to._

"No… no, I don't mind."

An awkward silence ensued before Tezuka cleared his throat, climbing out of the bed, trying to straighten the creases in his sleep-rumpled shirt. "I'll be going, then. To the extent of my knowledge, you have no tests today, so you should take the time to enjoy it." He glanced at the window before running a hand through his perpetually messy hair, although today it was messier than usual because he had just gotten out of bed. "I believe it will be sunny today. Absorbing sunlight is good for you."

Fuji couldn't resist chuckling at this statement. "You make me sound like a plant, Tezuka," he teased lightly, "but a trip to the roof sounds nice." He stretched his arms playfully above his head, and Tezuka was reminded briefly of a cat, in particular a fluffy white one that Kikumaru had once brought to the institute to 'cat-sit' (not wanting to leave it home alone even though the rest of his large household was there). It had promptly claimed Tezuka's lap as its own and Tezuka, try as he might, hadn't been able to get rid of it. He wondered what had happened to that little feline; he hadn't seen it in ages, it seemed.

"Ah… I can't believe it's already ten-thirty!" Fuji cried out, successfully pulling Tezuka out of his musings over cats and back to the present, where he stood next to Fuji in Fuji's room while still trying to fully wake up. "I'd hate to bother Taka-san so late… do you think he'll let me steal some bread from the pantry? He won't mind it, would he?"

Tezuka raised an eyebrow. "Why would Kawamura mind if you took some bread?" he asked, headed for the door. Fuji trailed after him, wings folded over his back, although when Tezuka stopped suddenly Fuji had to pull up short to prevent crashing into that strong back.

"So this was where you vanished off to last night, Tezuka. I see… what marvelous data…"

"Inui, did you need something?" Tezuka asked, blatantly ignoring the man's first comment and fixing him instead with his customary hard glare. Fuji peered curiously around Tezuka's shoulder, offering Inui a nod of greeting to the other's slight tilt of the head.

Inui held out a rather fat manila folder to Tezuka, who took it and leafed through its contents, skimming over them. Realization hit him by the time he got through a third of it. "These are the files, am I right?" he asked, shutting the folder and giving a sigh. "I apologize, Inui. I would have looked at them last night except…"

"…except you conveniently forgot that you were not the type who is tolerant of alcohol, even in small quantities," Inui finished for him. His glasses gleamed as he scribbled into his little green notebook now that he no longer had to carry that fat folder in his hands. "What good data… I'd never thought I'd get to see that…" Tezuka glowered at him while Inui offered him a slight smile. "That aside, Tezuka… there's something that might be of interest to you."

Tezuka was not one who liked mind games. He preferred it when things were concrete and in front of him, where all he needed to do was read and understand. "What is it?" he asked shortly. "I don't read minds, Inui."

"Yes, yes, I'm aware of that," Inui said dismissively, placing a hand on Tezuka's arm and drawing him forward. "Please excuse us, Fuji," he said the winged brunet. "You don't mind if I steal Tezuka for some time?" Fuji shook his head, indicating that he didn't. Giving a nod, Inui turned away from him and proceeded to guide Tezuka away while Fuji trotted off to the cafeteria to get some food for himself.

There was a nagging feeling in the pit of Tezuka's stomach as he walked, and he felt as he could almost sense impending doom. That, and the fact that Inui's hand had never left his elbow, sent warning bells ringing in his mind. Inui did not like physical contact with anyone, and even the shortest amount was detestable to him. This, Tezuka knew. The two of them knew each other much better than most people would assume.

"Something's bothering you, Inui," Tezuka said, and it wasn't a question.

Inui continued to guide Tezuka forward until they had reached his office. Tezuka sat down on Inui's sofa as Inui shut the door, tossing his notebook dismissively onto his cluttered desk.

This action sent another set of bells off in Tezuka's head. Inui, methodic, careful Inui, _never_ tossed anything that looked even _remotely _like a book, much less his own_ notebook_, on anything. The only other time that Tezuka had witnessed this abuse to those objects (and when discussing Inui anything beside picking up, opening, and setting down a book was abuse) was when Inui had been worried about Kaidoh's application into their institute, during the time when the institute was floundering and some of its employees wished that they hadn't applied in the first place.

Inui was surprising protective over his protégé, more so than one would originally think.

"Tezuka, did you order that new machine?" Inui asked suddenly, pushing his glasses to a firmer position on his face.

Tezuka looked about as surprised as he could ever get as he looked up at Inui. "No… I didn't order any new machines," he said slowly. "What is it supposed to do?" He searched his mind but came up to a blank wall; he could not remember ordering new machinery.

"It's one of those glass tanks you see in the horror movies," Inui muttered darkly. "It draws a frightening resemblance to those that they use in cloning; I remember that was all I could think about when I saw it." The data man leaned against his desk, looking disturbed and anxious, though the latter was just barely visible on his face. Finally, he recollected himself from his thoughts and picked up a thin manual, giving it to Tezuka with a flick of his wrist that sent it flying effortlessly through the air. Tezuka plucked it from the air and gave it a quick glance.

"You've read this already," he said simply, setting it to his side without opening it to read it. He leaned back against the sofa, taking off his glasses, pinching the bridge of his nose wearily. For a long moment, he did not speak, and Inui did not press him. "Only two people I know would have it in their right minds to buy a machine like that," Tezuka murmured. "They're persistent; I don't know whether to commend them or be annoyed."

"There is a 100% chance that we should be both," Inui offered unhelpfully.

Tezuka stared blankly at the overflowing bookshelf before finally speaking again. "For the meantime, lock the machine up in its room. Don't tell the rest of the team anything about it; it'll just cause more problems for us. Kikumaru will probably run to Fuji as soon as he hears anything about this." He held up a hand to stop Inui before he could say, 'There is a 52.7% chance of that happening. The other 48.3% will be him running to Oishi instead.' "I will look into the matter of the machine's purchase and shipping."

He handed the manual over to Inui, who took it wordlessly as he stood up. "I understand, Tezuka. If there should be any word around about it, know that it will not be from me."

Tezuka gave him a nod of thanks before letting himself out of the office. Inui was left alone, amidst his books, holding the manual in his hands. He gave it a distasteful look before placing it onto his desk.

Outside his window, the skies darkened, and the heavens opened up, crying tears of rain that fell accompanied only by the crashing sounds of thunder.

***

The glass was cold underneath Tezuka's hand. The bespectacled man was standing in front of the new machine, staring at it, trying to think but finding that he was not able to. At first he had stood in the doorway, the light form the hallway pooling around him and extending his silhouette into the room, where the machine sat there in the dark, silent and foreboding. Then, he had moved forwards, resting a hand on that cold, cold glass.

Tezuka did not like the machine.

He did not like the way the steel and the glass that made up the machine gleamed wickedly under the sparse lighting. He did not like all of the tubes and parts that extended from the machine's bottom and attached to who-knows-where. He did not like the shape of the capsule: cylindrical and tall and made all of glass, topped with an impenetrable steel cap. He did not like how the capsule was designed so that it could comfortably hold whatever it was meant to hold, be it animal or human.

Most of all, he did not like how it was like a reminder for him to shove Fuji in there, to finish this Project Angel before he got too attached to the test subject.

Tezuka's fingers traced aimless shapes on the surface of the glass, his eyes focused on his reflection. He blinked slowly, and his reflection vanished, being replaced by a painstakingly familiar face. Cerulean eyes stared sadly out at him.

"Fuji," Tezuka breathed, drawing away from the glass. Those sad eyes held him rooted to the spot, and the Fuji in the glass seemed to reach out to him. His mouth opened and closed without a sound, and Tezuka shook his head helplessly; he could not understand him.

Fuji's expression turned desperate, and his mouth opened and closed faster. Had there been sound, whatever he was saying would have been repeated over and over, the words coming out hard and fast.

Tezuka still could not understand, placing his hands on either side of Fuji's face. "I don't understand," he said, as if saying it would make the Fuji in the glass, who might not even be real or desperate for anything, understand. "I don't understand you, Fuji."

A sad smile crossed Fuji's face as he began to slowly fade away. He said one more thing before he was totally gone from the glass, revealing Tezuka's reflection on the smooth surface. Tezuka pressed forward on the glass, calling Fuji's name over and over again, as if he could will him back into the glass.

_'Too late,'_ Fuji had mouthed before vanishing. _'It's too late, Tezuka.'_ That, he had understood, although he did not know how, or why, for that matter.

Tezuka's grip on the glass tightened, producing a protesting squeak as they dragged along it. "Fuji!" he called. "What's too late? Answer me, Fuji!" Was that a twinge of desperation in his own voice that he heard?

"Fuji!"

"Tezuka?"

Tezuka stopped himself from calling the Fuji's name when Inui's voice sounded behind him. He was giving him an odd look, and Tezuka hastily tried to recompose himself. "What is it, Inui?" he asked, voice smooth and cold like usual.

Inui's eyebrows rose up slightly, but he did not venture to ask why Tezuka was calling to a machine that could not answer. That was one of the things that Tezuka liked about Inui: he never pried where he knew he was not needed. After awhile, all information made its way to Inui and Inui's notebook.

"Fuji's missing," Inui said shortly. Tezuka froze, and Inui continued. "Kikumaru said that he was with him one moment and then gone the next when he went to get a clipboard from Oishi, who was right next door at the time of Fuji's disappearance."

Tezuka strode out of the room, closing and locking the door after him. "We should go look for him," he said, fighting to keep his voice even. "It's dangerous to walk around in the rain, with or without wings. Get everyone; it'll be quicker with everyone working."

"Yes, Tezuka." Inui turned to go do his task, but not before he had caught a glimpse of Tezuka's face. Since when had Tezuka ever looked so… distressed… about anything?

"Tezuka," Inui said, turning back towards him. Tezuka gave him a glance, motioning for him to continue.

Inui opened his mouth to speak, to state what he had seen for confirmation. But in the end he closed his mouth and shook his head. "Never mind. I'll go and get everyone and we'll leave at once." As he spoke he began walking away from Tezuka, leaving him standing there, alone in the hall, 'too late' playing over and over and over again in his head, Fuji's desperately sad gaze engraved within his memory.

***

Fuji had finally managed to escape from under the watchful eyes of Eiji. Actually, escape was too strong of a word, since it wasn't like the cheery redhead was keeping him prisoner. Fuji understood very well why he had to stay at the institute, and he had dealt with it as patiently as he could, but after staying obediently inside for a week except for the occasional trip to the roof he could take it no longer.

The outside world was calling him. He wanted to walk and be able to go farther, without mesh fences cutting his path short. He wanted to lie down and feel soft grass underneath his body, instead of hard concrete. The concrete was either super cold or super hot every single time Fuji laid on it, and he longed to feel the pleasant, perfect warmth of earth after it had absorbed just the right amount of sunlight.

_The field would be nothing but mud right now, _Fuji thought, tilting his head up towards the sky and shielding his eyes so that the droplets of cold water wouldn't hit highly doubted that Eiji, no matter how cheery and amiable he was, would appreciate it if Fuji trekked back inside covered in mud. Of course, he might also be a bit peeved about Fuji going outside in the first place…

As he stood there, staring up at the sky, the rain fell harder, the droplets becoming bigger. They rolled off of his cheeks, like tears. Honey-brown hair fell down and framed his face in wet strands, slowly becoming darker as more rain fell. His clothes, thoroughly soaked, were plastered against his skin, displaying his slim build. He had seemed so frail before. Now, under the treatment of the rain, he seemed so strong. It was one of nature's wonders that Fuji didn't question. Mother Nature had a way with everything, himself included.

The white feathers in his wings became a dull, mottled gray. He fluttered them, liking how heavy they suddenly felt. Perhaps that was why he liked rainy days… he could pretend that his wings weren't a part of his body. If they had actual weight, he could pretend, even for just the short amount of time he was in the rain, that they were part of a costume that he could remove when he wanted to.

Fuji didn't quite know when he started walking. One minute he had been standing near the front door of the institute, the next, he found himself headed for the subway station. Upon realization, his footsteps slowed marginally. He couldn't go into a subway station, looking as he did, wet and winged. But he wanted to get about, to walk around and try to be as normal as possible. An hour would be nice. He'd be satisfied with even a half-hour of freedom.

His rational side lost the moral war that Fuji waged. His footsteps started up again, his hand digging into his pocket, finding some spare change (he always kept a few hundred yen on him at all times). He bought a ticket at the counter, boarded the train, got off after one stop, ignoring the curious looks that the other passengers were giving him.

"They make those costumes more and more realistic, nowadays, don't they?" an older man asked his companion, a woman around the same age. She agreed, nodding sagely.

"Costume or not, make sure you get home and into some dry clothes before you catch a fever, young man," another woman, closer in age to Fuji, scolded him lightly. Fuji offered her a polite smile, bobbing his head up and down and saying that he would be careful. She patted his arm gently before returning to her book.

The stop where he got off opened up to a shopping district, and he found himself amidst people scurried from store to store, browsing through the wide selection of clothes and jewelry stores. Having nowhere near enough money to buy anything (he was fairly certain that he only had enough to ensure his return back to the institute), Fuji decided that he'd do a bit of window-shopping. Yumiko used to always take him and Yuuta window-shopping, Fuji remembered.

_'Window-shopping is a fine art,'_ Yumiko had told her younger brothers, trying to mimic a stern teacher giving her pupils a lecture. _'It's much more enjoyable than actual shopping. You don't have to deal with the guilt of spending so much money on something that you only wear once.'_

Fuji and Yuuta hadn't cared about that part of window-shopping. They liked doing it with Yumiko because that was the only time they got to spend time with her. An all honors student, Yumiko was constantly bogged down with homework, and when it wasn't her schoolwork calling for her to complete them, she was at school helping around, fulfilling her duty as student council president. When she was home, she was either found doing homework, sleeping, or talking to someone or another from school on the phone.

When she had gone off to college, the two Fuji brothers had tried to recreate the feeling they had when all three of them went window-shopping, the warmth, the laughter, the little inside-jokes that led to outright giggling among the three of them. It just wasn't the same without Yumiko, though, and after awhile they stopped trying. Fuji left for the Hyoutei and Rikkai institutes. Yuuta went on to high school.

Yuuta graduated eventually. He got himself an apartment near his college and had been living there since. His parents sold the old house that the three Fuji children had grew up in and moved to another one just a few streets down. The only difference between the new house was that it was more elderly-friendly. Despite their children's protests that they were still young and spry, they had been adamant. Time was not lenient on the body. As the years passed moving up and down would be more difficult. It was better to be prepared and safe than to live on with the old life and suffer consequences. Yumiko had gotten a boyfriend (multiple ones, actually. The previous ones had been chased away by Fuji and Yuuta because they had been unfitting for their perfect sister); she got engaged a few years after both of her little brothers had approved of her choice (or just liked him enough not to kill him with any fruit that was lying within reach which could be used to chuck at his head). She was supposed to be married in two months. Fuji wanted to see his sister in full bridal gear, walking down the aisle with a bouquet of flowers in hand (Yumiko was letting him design it; he made note to stop by a florist's later while he was out). She would look lovely, absolutely stunning. He knew.

He wondered if she would extend him an invitation. Though she had promised that she would both of them knew that him being there might not be received well. He wasn't _human_, not entirely, at least. He wasn't _normal_.

_'Scientist people will come and take you away one day and you'll be stuck in a laboratory forever and ever and ever!'_

A wry smile flitted across Fuji's face as he chuckled dryly. He had been in first grade, winged in all his glory, excited about starting elementary school. His desk mate hadn't been too excited, and the two of them had gotten off to a rocky start. Furthermore, Fuji shone in his studies, receiving high marks despite his… abnormality. Regular dislike became evident contempt. Fuji's desk mate became his constant torturer, his threat of Fuji ending up in a laboratory being his favorite phrase.

_I wonder if he knew how right he was,_ Fuji mused, walking slowly down the street, allowing himself to be jostled by the crowd. _They did come and take me away. Most of my time is stuck in an institution, so I suppose I am also stuck in a lab forever._

Fuji had never made many friends. He was an amiable person when one went up to talk to him, but rarely did he go up to others and start a conversation. Only when someone interested him did he go up on his own accord to talk. On most occasions, Fuji was the child who sat at his desk in the back of his classroom, doodling something into his notebook or dreaming of school being over with so that he could go home and play with his adorable little brother Yuuta.

Fuji remembered a short story he had read once, one rainy day when he was sick and couldn't go to school. He couldn't remember the title, he could barely remember the plot. All he could remember was the word 'time,' the central theme of the story, and which was so important that it was capitalized every single time it was mentioned.

Oh, yes… if he remembered correctly, Time had been an entity in the story, and the main character had gotten on Time's less-than-appealing side. Thus, Time had limited his days upon earth, setting him apart from the rest of the people in the world that he lived in while giving him a set of tasks that he needed to complete before his time ran out. He had no home, wandering from place to place to complete his tasks, and in the end, dying alone.

In the rain, Fuji might add. He gave a distrusting look at the dark clouds above his head.

"If Time was an entity…" Fuji whispered. He felt so much like that character. His wanderings took him from institution to institution. His tasks… he supposed that it was being a good test subject. His death… he dearly hoped that he wouldn't die in the rain (Fuji had always envisioned a good death as in a place where it was nice and cozy, preferably in his bed in which he died in his sleep. The less pain the better).

"But he was lonely, wasn't he?" Fuji asked himself, earning odd looks from the other pedestrians. "He'd talk to people; he'd stay with them for awhile and they could be 'friends,' slightly, but ultimately he was alone." The character had been lonely. So was Fuji.

_He could have been saved,_ Fuji thought. _If someone had really looked at him and tried to understand him Time could have lifted the curse it had placed on him. If someone had gone to look for him when he first abandoned his previous life he could have been saved._

No one went to find him, though. He had wandered, alone, just like Fuji was wandering alone in the streets right at that moment. Did that mean he couldn't be saved? Did that…

"Fuji."

Fuji's head snapped up and he spun on his heel, wings unfurling at a rapid speed in a defensive gesture to make himself appear larger and thus more intimidating (his behaving like a bird almost made him laugh). Blue eyes opened when he saw Tezuka, standing underneath an umbrella a few feet away from him.

"Tezuka," Fuji greeted, wings furling over his back. "Why are you out here in this weather?" he asked, a cutely innocent look on his face.

Tezuka frowned. "What are _you_ doing out here?" he asked back, answering a question with another question. Fuji remained silent as Tezuka walked forwards. Three strong strides and then the rain no longer fell on him; Tezuka was holding the umbrella over his head and shielding him from the drops of cold rain. "You're shivering," Tezuka said quietly, and Fuji looked down at himself.

"I guess the rain is cold," Fuji stated, rubbing cold hands on cold arms in an attempt to warm himself up. Had Tezuka not mentioned anything Fuji wouldn't have even known he was cold, so caught up in his musings as he was.

Within seconds a warm (and dry) blanket was wrapped around Fuji's shoulders, courtesy of Oishi, who fussed with Fuji's general health and well-being, giving him a stern lecture on pneumonia. Taka smiled at him from under his umbrella and promised to warm up hot cocoa for him as soon as they got back to the institute. Kaidoh, standing next to Inui under another umbrella, let out a faint hiss of relief, Momo echoing it with a faint sigh from where he was holding an umbrella out for Echizen.

Echizen gave a tilt of his head, looking impishly up at Fuji. "Mada mada dane," he said, and Fuji chuckled lightly. Inui muttered something about how they all needed to step up their awareness levels, although he added in, "I'm glad you're alright," at the end, almost as an afterthought. Eiji threw himself at Fuji and wailed about how sorry he was for being such a poor physiatrist that Fuji was willing to risk his health in order to escape him (Fuji explained patiently that that was most certainly _not_ the case).

As for Tezuka, he stood protectively at Fuji's elbow, and when the few minutes of reunion passed, placed his hand on Fuji's shoulder. "Let's go," he said simply.

"Go where?" Fuji asked, looking up at him.

"Home," Tezuka replied, referring to the institute. He glanced at everyone, giving a faint nod of his head. "Together," he finished. "Let's go home together."

There was a collective round of nods and agreement, Inui giving Tezuka an understanding glance which he answered with a slight inclination of his head. He had decided: nothing was going to happen that could hurt Fuji anymore, not while he was with them.

Tezuka had officially declared war against upper management.

* * *

A/N: You know... I really hate it when I'm writing something and I get the ending down first before I get the details in the middle written. It's very annoying... *sighs*

So sorry for the long wait. School (as usual) is taking up all my time. And I volunteer at the hospital on Saturday mornings and teach little children how to ice skate on Saturday afternoon, leaving Sundays for homework and my weekends shortened. I'll try to update as fast as I can, but until then, leave a **review**? I'd appreciate it lots. :)


	10. Test 9 – Definition of an Angel

**_Test 9 – Definition of an Angel_**

Fuji studied the chess pieces in front of him, a look of extreme concentration upon his usually smiling face. His hand reached out, stopping above the figure of his queen, fingers hovering over the piece as he considered where he should move the piece. The game had been going on for a rather long time, and Fuji, having never actually sat down and played a decent game of chess before, had found himself on the losing end. A smirking Echizen sat opposite of him, cross-legged on the bed, with Momo peering curiously over his shoulder to look at the board and Fuji seated in a chair, a small folding table they had 'borrowed' in between them. The three of them had made themselves comfortable in Momo's room, unearthing the game from somewhere underneath the bed where it had lived among socks, papers, and an assortment of other miscellaneous items for who knows how long, some of the items of which Fuji could identify, some of which he couldn't.

"Mada mada dane," Echizen had said just a few turns ago, confident that he could win. This made Fuji determined to turn the game around and crush Echizen.

Who would be the last one smirking then, hmm?

And then, he sneezed, a loud sudden sneeze that no one was expecting or very prepared for, for that matter. His hand slammed down on the queen piece, moving it (Echizen and Momo were shocked to see that it was actually a legit move, evident from the wide eyes) across the board as he bent over to the size, letting out another sneeze. Fuji straightened up shortly afterwards, giving a quick shake of his head, wondering whether or not he had caught a cold (thankfully, Oishi wasn't within hearing distance, otherwise Fuji would have been pounced upon and ushered to bed, probably to be force-fed medicine and made to sleep the day away).

Echizen was gaping, looking very much like a fish out of water. Fuji tilted his head lightly to one side, looking at the other man, an expression of curious innocence upon his face. "What?" he asked.

For answer, his opponent simply pointed to the board, and Fuji looked down at the indicated area, puzzled until he saw the cause of the gaping fish look. Echizen's king, which had before been in the corner, was now backed completely into it, with nowhere to escape to and nothing to protect it, by Fuji's queen. A delighted smile spread across Fuji's face as he saw this, replacing the puzzlement.

"Checkmate," he cooed, looking rather pleased with himself.

Dark grumblings came from Echizen as he had no choice but to give his king over to Fuji, the scowl on his face deepening as he admitted his loss. Fuji's smile was bright enough to replace all of the lights in the room. He was just _that happy_ with winning his first official game of chess that he would have skipped out of the room had he left at that exact moment.

But he didn't, instead sitting in his seat as Echizen challenged him to another game of chess. Fuji complied, curious as to whether or not he could pull off another checkmate (he acknowledged that Lady Luck must have deemed him worthy of her glory when she had let him win the last game with his sneezing) with his own abilities.

Taka poked his head into the room in the middle of their second game. Echizen barely glanced up at him; Fuji gave the man a cheery wave as Taka fully entered the room, carrying a plate of treats. Momo was instantly up and by his side, trying to get Taka to relinquish the plate to him. The gentle man fended him off with practiced ease, appeasing the childish whines that Momo let out by giving him a cookie (sometimes it amused Taka at how well Momo was able to be controlled. Any food item could get Momo to anything that one wanted, for the most part).

"You found a chess board and all the pieces?" Taka asked casually, setting the plate on the table besides the game and peering curiously at the board. Fuji was winning currently, having taken more of Echizen's pieces that Echizen's of Fuji's. Echizen growled something underneath his breath and reached over, nabbing a cookie from the plate and munching on it moodily. He wasn't used to losing, which was clearly seen from his current grumpy mood.

"We were helping Momo clean," Fuji offered brightly, seeing as Echizen had gone back to scrutinizing the board, intent on defeating Fuji and not suffering another loss. "It was underneath the bed with most of Momo's other stuff. He has a habit of stuffing everything underneath his bed where he can't see it and then forgetting about its existence."

Momo huffed around his cookie, whining, "Where else would I put the stuff that I don't need?" in his defense, while gesturing to the shelves and complaining that there wasn't much room to put his junk _there_, to which Fuji simply chuckled, Taka smiled, and Echizen ignored for the sake of turning the game around.

Fuji grinned widely as he turned to Taka. "Ne, Taka-san," he said in a sing-song voice, one that was dripping with sweetness, so much that Momo shut up with his whining and Echizen looked up from the board. "Did you know Momo had a girlfriend? He was keeping her a secret all this time!" Taka had to admit that he had never known that Momo had had a girlfriend (Momo had been quite good at keeping that a secret), or that his colleague was capable of turning such a shade of red. It was rather amusing as well to watch Momo trying to madly to shush Fuji. The winged man continued without paying him any heed, grin stretching wider and wider with each phrase as Momo's face grew redder and redder.

It was sometime in the middle of Fuji's happy teasing that Echizen spoke up. "Momo-sempai keeps a box of sappy love letters under his bed, too. You forgot about that, Fuji-sempai."

Fuji's face adopted a look of mock shock. "Oh dear, I did, didn't I?" he asked, shaking his head sadly. "Perhaps we should read some to Taka-san? Momo only let us read the first two, maybe someone else here will be enough incentive for reading more."

Taka blinked, unsure of what to say. Fuji had a smile on that could only be described as predatory, Momo had long given up on defending himself and was now trying to shrink so that he became as tiny as heavenly possible, and Echizen looked torn between whether or not he should devote himself to this let-us-tease-Momo-until-he-can't-stand-it-anymore! mission or return his attention to the game in front of him. In the end, teasing his Momo-sempai won, and he cleared the board from the table while Fuji fetched the box, ignoring Momo's protest that a man's private possessions should remain his private possessions.

"Let's see," Fuji said cheerily, opening up a letter. "This is one from Momo. We can do this one of two ways." Here, he paused to add a dramatic effect to his words. "One, I read aloud to everyone the contents of the letter. Two, I pass the letter around so we all get to read it. Either way, we should be able to have a lively discussion afterwards."

He glanced expectantly at Momo. "Well? What do you want to do?" he asked, and Momo sighed miserably, completely and utterly defeated.

"Whatever," he said dejectedly, hunching over on the bed while Fuji unfolded the letter. He scanned it quickly with smiling eyes before collapsing in a fit of laughter. Immediately intrigued, Echizen and Taka drew over to him, and Fuji started to read to them.

'_My dearest Ann-chan,'_ Fuji started cheerfully, debating whether or not he should try to make his voice like that of a star-struck lover. He was sorely tempted, but didn't particularly know what it sounded like exactly (much to his disappoint), since he himself had never been through that stage. _'It's been a while since we've last seen each other. How have you been? I miss you terribly; it's rather lonely in this room all by myself.'_

Here, Echizen let out a muffled snort, mumbling something about how Momo was like a dog that couldn't wait for his Master to come home to play with him. Momo retaliated by grabbing the smaller man in a headlock, to which Echizen protested furiously while Fuji continued on with his reading:

_'Remember that clip I gave you for your birthday? You laughed so hard when I told you about my plight and how I couldn't get both so you'd have a matching set. But I found the other one, now, and I hope you look forward to your next birthday so I can give it to you. Or perhaps Christmas. Which one is closer?'_

"Ah! Is it the heart-shaped one that you showed me the other day?" Taka asked. "The one with the rhinestones? I remember seeing it on a display shelf some time ago where it was labeled as 'limited addition,' but when I went back to look at it again it had been purchased. Guess that means you bought it."

Momo rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, nodding. "It's a set of two, but the first time I was only able to buy one. So I figured buying her the other one to complete the set would be the perfect gift." There was a soft look in his violet eyes that made Taka smile.

_'Until I can see you again, take care,' _Fuji continued. _'I'll treat you to dinner as soon as I can; I still remember our promise. Love, Momo.'_

Fuji folded the letter up, looking contented now that he had been allowed to snoop through the contents of one letter, although he _was_ rather curious about this promise of Momo's. The only thing that stopped him from diving for another letter was a knock on the door and then Kaidoh poking his head into the room. "Fuji-san, Oishi-sempai wants to see you. He's insisting on giving you another checkup to make sure you didn't develop pneumonia or something."

Tilting his head gently to one side, Fuji stood up, slipping the letter into the box but not taking out another. Padding over to the door, he followed Kaidoh out, pausing in the doorway to fold his wings over his back so that he could get out the door. Taka stood, giving a glance at the clock, murmuring about preparing the noon meal. Echizen followed shortly, wanting to take a nap.

Momo was left alone in his room. He ran a hand absentmindedly on the rim of the box before picking up a sheet of black paper and a pen. _'Ann,'_ he wrote out in his messy scrawl. _'I know how you've always been curious about what's going on here and that I've always told you that I can't tell you until it's over, but could you help me out with something? It's been bothering me for a time, now._

_'Give me an honest answer when you reply, Ann. What is an angel? What defines it? Are there certain aspects that make an angel? Are there certain obligations that he must perform?_

_'Does an angel need to go through everything alone?'_

***

Inui had never felt so _satisfied_ in his entire life. The cold metal of the keys in his hand had never felt so wonderful, and the sweet jingle that they made when they clinked against each other was music to his ears, more so than even the sound of fingers flying on a keyboard, the music that usually serenaded him. Even when he had placed first in the science fair in fifth grade (he had created a juice which stimulated the growth of potato plants at an alarming fast rate) he had never felt this smug, and the triumphant smile on his face was also something that he could get used to in the near future.

He gave the closed door, behind which was locked that new machine that none of them wanted (or particularly needed, if he had any say in the matter), a triumphant glance. They thought they were so special, didn't they, because they could play as a god and manipulate life within their hands.

"It's not a permanent solution, but anything is better than nothing."

Inui turned around to see Tezuka, who was also studying the closed door with a bright light in his hazel eyes, something burning in their depths that was very much like the triumphant air that surrounded Inui. Inui nodded, pocketing the keys. "Yes. We should use this time to think of a permanent plan for Fuji's well-being. I should think that upper-management will know the gist of what we are planning, sooner or later." It was a grim thought, but unavoidable, and both men knew it.

"Let us hope that we will never have to shove Fuji in there," Tezuka said, the image of Fuji trapped within the machine still vivid within his mind. A troubled frown graced his face as he turned around, striding away, Inui following at his heels, brows drawn together above his glasses.

"Something is bothering you," he stated quietly, and Tezuka halted, half turning to glance back at Inui. "I know that the new machine is bothersome and none of us want it, but your reaction to it is probably more than all of ours combined." He pushed his glasses up, as though they were threatening to fall right off of his nose. "What happened that time?" he asked softly, "What happened between you and that horrid piece of technology right before we went to get Fuji out of the rain?"

For an instant, Tezuka was tempted to snap out, 'That is none of your business,' which he would have done in any other situation to any other person. But this was a situation that involved their Fuji, _his _Fuji, and this was _Inui_. Inui did not ask questions without having placed considerable thought behind it, Tezuka knew that. Actually, Inui didn't ask questions, period. His mind was usually able to wrap around any scenario and provide a rational answer and logical support to it. The fact that Inui had felt the need to ask a question and had done so proved that this had been weighing on his mind for quite some time.

Tezuka turned back so that his back was facing Inui, composing his answer. "I may have simply been tired," he said to defend himself, before realizing that he had not even stated anything that would have needed defending. "Fuji was in the glass," he stated matter-of-factly. "He was stuck in it, and it was like he wanted to get out. All I could understand from him was, 'too late.'"

They started walking again, Tezuka slowing down his pace so that Inui could walk next to him. There was a deep frown on the other's face, one that rivaled his own usual one. "In the glass, you said?" Inui asked. "Perhaps is was simply a reflection? A play on light?" But it couldn't have been a reflection… Fuji had been outside the institute at that time. The only light source at that time was the open door, if Tezuka remembered correctly.

Inui shook his head slightly after pondering for several moments. "I don't believe in ill omens, but I simply cannot come up with a logical reasoning for why you saw Fuji within the glass. Perhaps you were tired, but that isn't like you." They walked past the door to Oishi's little examination room, where they could hear Fuji holding up a spirited chat with Oishi from within. Tezuka's expression darkened as he paused momentarily in front of the half-ajar door before moving on, Inui following quietly.

"He's very lively. I would imagine that he works well with children if given the chance," he said lightly when they were outside of hearing distance from the door. Tezuka only grunted to show that he was paying attention to him, opting not to answer. "If it had been anyone else, would you have felt this way?" Inui prodded, and Tezuka's steps slowed. "You know you can't hide it from me. I can see your frustration, your borderline-rage and underneath it all, your terror."

Green eyes narrowed behind the thick lens of his glasses as he studied his superior. "What exactly about Fuji strikes you the most?" he asked. There, he had said it, the one thing that had been plaguing him ever since that day where Fuji had 'escaped' from their institute. No, possibly even farther on, before that day. For before Inui's very eyes, he had watched Tezuka change.

It was nothing drastic, of course. There was only a tiny shift of the eyebrows whenever Fuji asked him a question, the faintest sparkle in hazel eyes when the winged man went about his playful (and somewhat exasperating, both men would agree, at times) antics. Genuine concern whenever Fuji seemed troubled, special frowns that were worn when Fuji had a particular dilemma that Tezuka took upon his own self to solve in order to spare Fuji of doing so. And most of all, the one thing that stuck out to Inui like a sore thumb; it was so obvious once he had noticed it… was the fact that Tezuka could get _hurt_ through Fuji.

Tezuka, Seigaku's Tezuka, could get hurt.

The day when Tezuka and Oishi had returned from a meeting with the upper-management, Inui had not meant to see the exchange between Tezuka and Fuji. He had had the unfortunate (or fortunate, depending on how one looked at it) luck of seeing Fuji wrap delicate arms around Tezuka's waist, had heard Tezuka reveal that he was afraid.

Afraid of dying.

Perhaps his memory was failing him, but he had been sure that Tezuka's voice had shook a bit, just the tiniest bit, as he spoke back then. Inui understood that death was a concept that could render even the strongest man to near tears, but Tezuka had not been afraid of his own death.

He had been afraid of Fuji's.

Only when in the presence of Fuji's death was Tezuka exposed to be the same as the rest of the people who populated the earth: vulnerable, weak, fearful, vain in the hope that they can do anything, anything at all, to save that one life. Inui had made sure to check and double-check that data, and now, he was certain of it. If Tezuka could fear, as any other person could, than it was in the presence of Fuji, who himself probably did not know what an impact he had made upon the strict captain.

"He is an angel, I suppose," Tezuka mused, successfully shaking Inui away from his inner thoughts where data swirled, just waiting to be categorized and placed into his notebook.

Raising an eyebrow, Inui said drily, "You don't usually categorize people as angels, Tezuka. It's rather unlike you."

"Hn," Tezuka answered. "I categorize him as such because it is necessary. Fuji is not like other people, not from his wings and our lack of such, but because he is entirely different from us. We are linked together by a thin thread, us and Fuji."

"You make no sense. How does linking Fuji and us by a thin thread make him an angel?" In all honesty, Inui could not see the linkage.

"He is, though," Tezuka replied stubbornly. "One thinks of an angel as being perfect, having no flaws. But Fuji, he is the opposite of that view. He is flawed, hurt, scarred, everything the standard angel is not and should never be."

The tiniest of smiles slipped across his face. "Fuji is so imperfect that he is perfect. That, Inui, is why he is an angel."

***

Momo was sprawled out on the roof when the door opened, throwing a patch of light out onto the cold cement rooftop. He did not move as footsteps sounded, coming towards him. From the way they sounded, steady, not too hurried, he knew it was Kaidoh. Tezuka's steps heavier, with more purpose to each step. Inui's were steady, but with a calculated steadiness to it. Eiji's were light and quick, falling in quick pitter-patters, while Oishi's were slower, with a small shuffle every fifth or so step. Taka's steps were a lot like Oishi's but heavier, and he usually made his presence known earlier by saying a greeting. Echizen's steps were usually meandering, and Fuji's were so light that it was hard to tell when he was walking up on someone.

"What's up?" Momo asked, turning his head as Kaidoh sat down on the floor next to him. For answer, he was handed an envelope.

Pushing himself up, Momo took the envelope, opening it up and removing the folded letter from within. "It came just a few minutes ago," Kaidoh said, reaching up and retying his bandana. "Still sending letters to that girlfriend of yours?"

Momo shrugged easily. "Yeah. It gets lonely without seeing her for so long. At least through letters I can imagine her talking to me."

Kaidoh shook his head. "You're wrapped around her finger," he pointed out, and his companion grinned.

"And proud to be, too!" There was a hiss from Kaidoh, but nothing more.

"What'd you ask her?" he finally asked after a moment of peaceful silence. "If you wanted clarification on anything, Inui-sempai would have been a better source to go to."

Momo was slow in replying, but Kaidoh did not rush him. It was, after all, difficult for the man to produce anything intelligent if he was rushed. "I wanted an outside source to cross-reference, that's all," he said slowly. "Say, Kaidoh, what is the definition of 'angel' to you?"

A soft hiss of surprise greeted his question, before Kaidoh asked, "Why?"

Momo leaned back against the floor, tucking his hands underneath his head. "Because I wasn't too sure about it myself," he answered. "You know… normally, when someone says 'angel' you think either of a person with white, feathered wings or a person who's exceedingly kind. But then you have Fuji. He's nice and all, but has an insane addiction to teasing. And he has wings, so that fits in relatively well with the general concept of an angel, but don't you think there's something missing? Angels are supposed to be pure, and you hardly ever hear of an angel who harbors within it a dark soul that absorbs pain so that he can continue on living."

He yawned, staring up at the rapidly darkening sky. "In a way, Fuji reminds me more of a human than an angel. And if he is a human, than isn't it a problem on our consciences with the presence of Project Angel?"

Besides him, Kaidoh grunted, although whether in agreement or simply because he was telling him that he was still listening Momo did not know. "And you asked her what she thought an angel was, didn't you?" Kaidoh asked, after letting himself think for a moment and letting out a soft hiss.

He nodded, stretching out his hands until his body formed a Y-shape. "As a matter of fact, I did," he stated drily, having known Kaidoh would pick up sooner or later.

"What did she say?"

Violet eyes closed, and Momo could see the words that Ann had written. Her elegant, sloping handwriting danced across the black of his closed eyelid, forming the letter she had written: _'I believe an angel is someone who anyone, as long as they've met him, even if it was just once, will want to protect, no matter what the circumstances, no matter what the opposition.'_

"Do you think that's what Fuji is like?" Momo asked, turning his head to look at Kaidoh's back as the other man pondered. "As in, not exactly the perfect seraph that is stereotypically depicted but rather someone who is worth protecting because he _means_ something to the people he interacts with?"

After a long moment Kaidoh shrugged, a simple rise and fall of his shoulders. "I… don't know," he said softly. "Fuji-san is Fuji-san. There was never a question of what exactly he was as a species, in my mind. He eats. He breathes. He moves, he talks, he thinks, he feels. Just like us. Why shouldn't he be categorized with us? Simply because he has wings and we do not? What exactly someone is isn't defined by physical aspects. You should know that; isn't that what you told me about Ann when you first started dating some years ago?"

Momo studied his friend for a moment, blinking slowly. Somehow, Kaidoh made it sound so _easy_, so simple. A smile spread across his face. "Yes. Yes, it is," he said, sitting up and then standing, holding out his hand and helping Kaidoh up as well. "I guess I got too caught up in what the big heads want us to think that I never simplified it down to that." Kaidoh grunted, this time in affirmation, before leaving the roof, tossing nonchalantly over his shoulder a tip about how he shouldn't stay out too late without a jacket lest he wanted to catch a cold. Momo waved to show that he had heard before reaching into his pocket, pulling out his vibrating cell phone.

"Ann," he breathed out, holding the phone to his ear. Sounds of light laughter greeted his ears. "Thanks for the letter," he said, genuinely meaning it.

"I'm glad it could help," she answered back, and he could just imagine her, sitting at her desk in her apartment (_their_ apartment, actually, except for the fact that he was rarely home), twirling a pen in her fingers as she read her students' papers (she was a teacher). "I know your work is confidential, but if I may, might I give you a word of advice?"

"Anything you think necessary," Momo said immediately. Any advice from level-headed Ann was something that Momo gobbled up quickly and sought to retain forever.

"Don't regret whatever you do, do you understand? If you're doing something and it just doesn't _feel _right, stop and right it. We only have one life, Momo, but plenty of problems in that one life. We don't need to add anymore that we could have avoided."

His eyes closed almost tiredly as he sighed, nodding before realizing that Ann couldn't see him. "I know, I know," he murmured. "But in the end, there is only so much we can do."

_We try, but it's not enough sometimes. What is the point of being an angel if you can't be saved?_

* * *

A/N: I feel like I haven't updated this in, like... forever. Which makes me feel bad, because I haven't dropped it or anything... it's just... I've been incrediably _lazy_ lately. I spend my whole day being busy doing... absolutely nothing. Because I fail like that.

So, while you read this and contemplate how pathetic I am (go on, you want to admit it XD), leave a **review** that will help me out of this hole of laziness that I've dug myself into? Thanks a bunch!


	11. Test 10 – Captured in Glass

_**Test 10 – Captured in Glass**_

Ryuuzaki Sakuno was the pretty young nurse who manned the front desk of the institute. She was twenty years old and had a nice figure with the curves all in their correct spots. She had auburn hair that shown brilliantly under the treatment of the sun, always put up into two long braids, although for the life of the male visitors they could not figure out why 'that pretty young nurse won't put her hair down.' Perhaps that was simply gentle Sakuno's way of deterring any would-be suitors, since at the moment she had no need or desire for dating anyone.

Actually, that was a lie, to a certain extent.

She admired a certain someone, a cocky young man with almost cat-like amber eyes and perpetually messy black hair. Twenty-years old as well, Echizen Ryoma was a man who had just captured her attention from the minute he walked in through the institution's front door, held out his work badge and said calmly, a bit nonchalant and cold, 'I was told to meet a Tezuka Kunimitsu-san for an interview here. Do you know where his office is?'

Naturally, as a receptionist, Sakuno directed him in the direction of Tezuka's office. Again, naturally, as Sakuno usually was rather scatter-brained and had a habit of forgetting directions for a brief period of time, it wasn't before he had vanished behind the closing elevator doors when she realized that she had given him the directions to someone else's office. One can thus naturally imagine Sakuno's embarrassment the next time she met the young man. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on who looked at it and how one looked at it), he had simply waved it off. It seemed that he had made enough of an impression in the interview when he had actually made it to the office that he had actually managed to land a job under Tezuka and from that day on would be working as a member of the research facility.

Sakuno had congratulated him, although she had no idea what the research facility did or who exactly was in it. There had been talk about the research institutions lately entering the vast fields of genetics, where they actively tried to discover and understand everything there was to know about genes, the roles they played in day-to-day lives, hereditary diseases, and the like. It was fascinating when Sakuno thought about it, but all that data made her head spin. She was glad that she was simply the receptionist and so didn't have to deal with so much information.

The research facility of the institution spanned the whole of the third and fourth floors of the building, she knew that much. Sakuno had only been up there once, when she had needed to run a few papers over to Tezuka's office, the only room where anyone who was not a part of the research team was allowed to enter on the third floor. However, even though her trip and stay there had been brief, she had been struck by the atmosphere: silent, serious, apprehensive, perhaps even a bit morbid. The walls were bare; no pictures hung from the walls like in the hallways of the first and second floors, which offered color to the otherwise drab white halls. Only a few potted plants placed sporadically along the hallway offered color, or the occasional sign on a doorway, brightly colored due to Eiji's cheerful tastes, offered any color or form of life. Sakuno had dropped her papers off on Tezuka's desk, performed a hasty bow, and scuttled out, boarding the elevator and returning to the friendly lobby where she semi-reigned from her throne behind the front desk.

After that, she had never ventured on the third floor ever again, and Tezuka had never asked her to take any more papers up. Perhaps it was because she had been read like an open book and he had seen her obvious discomfort with the alien world that the third floor offered to her, or perhaps it was because he felt that she was incapable of doing even the simplest of tasks (certainly running papers from one office to another could be considered as a very simple task). Whatever the reason, she never ventured up there again, and was quite happy in doing so.

In fact, she had gotten quite used to her work life revolving around the front desk, so it was strange to have her grandmother Sumire one day ask her to go up to the third floor at the end of her shift and retrieving a videotape. Sakuno's first reaction was: 'But Obaa-sama, it's security's job to take charge of all video cameras and their tapes in the building!'

Ryuuzaki Sumire had chuckled, shaking her head slightly. 'The third floor and above is off limits for general security. A different kind of security protects those floors, and the security cameras link to a different network.'

Sakuno's next reaction went along the lines of, 'Oh. But what's that got to do with me, Obaa-san? Wouldn't their security still take care of it?'

"Ah… Sakuno, always the sensible person," her grandmother chuckled. "Sakuno, dear, don't tell me that you forgot that I'm one of the heads of security." Silence from Sakuno confirmed her suspicion, and the elder woman could not help but break into a smile on the other side of the phone line. Really, now, her granddaughter could be so adorable and not know a thing about it. If Sumire even tried to bring it up, the twenty-year old woman would place her hands on her budding hips, pursing her lush lips, complaining that her Obaa-san was treating her like a little kid. "As it is, I can't make it tonight to collect the videos; I have a very important meeting this evening that I can't afford to miss. However, those video tapes are long overdue to be checked and I would appreciate it very much if you could fetch them for me."

Sakuno could only sigh, shaking her head in slow disbelief at her grandmother's words. "Oh, Obaa-san, you work too hard," she chided gently. "I wish you'd stop going to such meetings and getting home so late. You know it's not good for your health." On the other end of the line, Sumire had the consciousness to actually look slightly remorseful, although when she repeated her request, her granddaughter agreed, promising that she'd get the tapes for her as promised. Thanking her and wishing her a good night, she hung up, walking out of the phone booth and getting into the waiting limousine, where she took a seat opposite of Sakaki. There were no words exchanged between the two, just a nod, and then the sleek car drew away from the curb. It wasn't long before it had merged with the traffic, and its red lights became one in a million, indecipherable.

Sakuno hung up the phone, sighing softly to herself as she contemplated her new task. In all honesty she didn't _want_ to do it (it wasn't in her job description, anyway), but on the other hand she didn't want to disappoint her grandmother, who she held in high esteem. The older woman had single-handedly raised her from the tender age of three, after an unfortunate accident involving Sakuno's parents. Losing them at such a young age, Sakuno didn't remember much about them except from what her grandmother told her. As it was, Sumire was more of a mother than her real mother ever was, and Sakuno did not like disappointing others, especially if the other party happened to be the prominent mother figure in her life.

"Let's see… there are three security cameras on the third floor and three more on the fourth," Sakuno murmured, getting off of the elevator on the third floor. "Only one of them is disconnected with the central security that is for these two floors, and that's the one with the tape I'm supposed to get." She shivered slightly at the eerie silence before straightening up, a determined look in her sweet chocolate eyes. She had a job to do, and she was going to do it!

Granted, she was going to do it if she found that security camera. Glancing down at the security floor plan that she held in her hand, she began making her way down the hall to the camera that had been kindly marked in red for her. Finding it without much trouble (a rare occurrence, but she was not going to complain), she stared up at it, a sudden look of dismay crossing her face.

She couldn't reach it.

And to make matters worse, there wasn't a chair within sight that she could use to gain that extra three inches.

"Mou… why is life so unfair?" she whined, struggling on her tiptoes even though it was obvious that it was a lost cause.

"Miss, do you need any help?" a sweet voice asked and Sakuno whirled around, loosing her balance and toppling to the side. She was caught before her back could introduce itself with the floor, though, and the nurse found herself staring into sweet blue eyes. They closed into a smile as their owner helped her to stand properly on her two feet.

Sakuno stuttered out her thanks before gesturing to the camera. "I was asked to retrieve a tape from that camera, but I'm a bit short," she admitted bashfully. "Um… could you help me get it?"

"I didn't even know these cameras had tapes," was the reply before her savior reached up. Sakuno watched as he pondered for a moment before managing to eject said tape from the camera, taking it down and handing it to her. "Is this it?" he asked, and Sakuno accepted it with a bright smile.

"Yes! Thank you!" she said, before her eyes were diverted to something white and fluffy. Her savior had wings. Before he could even open his mouth to explain or give an excuse Sakuno had gone into a deep bow, face a bright crimson, stuttering, "Thank you so much, Angel-san! I promise I won't ever bother you with such a trivial matter ever again!" With that, she turned and fled to the elevator, dashing into the contraption as soon as the door opened.

Safely within the elevator, she breathed out a soft sigh. She had met an angel; a sweet, kind-hearted angel. And angels were pure creatures, who were supposedly free of morbid feelings such as sorrow.

But, if that was the case… why did _that_ angel look so sad?

***

"I met a very curious girl today," Fuji said casually while he was sitting with Echizen on the rooftop. The young researcher was drinking a can of Ponta, the wind playing with his messy hair as he sat on the ground. Fuji stood, leaning against the chain fence, the feathers on the tips of his wings moving gently in that same breeze. It was dark; night had fallen and the institution was silent. "She called me an angel," he said softly.

Echizen's gaze slid over to the older man, one eyebrow raised ever-so-slightly. "Well, at first glance you _do_ look like an angel of sort, Fuji-sempai," he said plainly. "After all, angels have white wings for purity." Draining the last of his Ponta, he stood up and threw the can away into the trash can set in the corner, before turning back to Fuji with his hands shoved into his pockets. "I doubt Fuji-sempai was never called an angel before," he drawled out, and Fuji couldn't help but chuckle lightly.

"You're right, Echizen. I really shouldn't be so surprised at the title," he admitted, tilting his head back until he could feel the cold metal against the back of his skull. Opening his eyes, he searched the night sky for stars, but to his dismay, there was nothing. It was all covered by clouds; even the moon's light was dimmed from behind its foggy curtain. "I guess I should be saying that I was simply surprised that she said it without any disgust in her voice."

"There _are_ people who hold angels in high esteem," Echizen commented, and winced when Fuji moved and planted a hand on his head, ruffling his dark hair, although he didn't seem to mind the movement too much, seeing as he made no move to move away. "I'm going to assume that Fuji-sempai hasn't heard someone call him that like that in a while."

Fuji shrugged, removing his hand from the other's head. "Yes; it was kind of surprising." He placed a finger on his chin, looking thoughtful. "Now that I think about it, I think I've seen that girl before… oh, yes! She's the nurse at the reception desk!"

"Scatterbrained Ryuuzaki?" Echizen asked nonchalantly. "What was _she _doing up here?" Since Fuji wasn't allowed on any of the floors below the third floor, the only sensible thing to think was that the girl had come up from the lobby. Although _why_ she would come up, he hadn't a clue. He could remember the last time that she had come up, and how terrified she had been after just glancing at Tezuka. And Tezuka hadn't even done anything except give her a nod and tell her to set the papers she held on the desk.

"She needed a videotape from one of the security cameras but couldn't reach it. I thought I'd help her out by getting it for her."

"Ryuuzaki isn't supposed to have anything to do with security and those cameras," Echizen muttered. "She's a receptionist whose job is to smile at anyone who comes into the building and point them in the right direction if they need her assistance, and hopefully not get them lost in the process."

Fuji nudged him playfully in the side with an elbow, looking far too mischievous to be up to any good. "You seem to be very knowledgeable in her position. Might it be that you have a crush on her? She _is_ rather adorable; I should think that when she lets all that hair out of her braids she'll be a stunning young lady." The faintest splattering of red on Echizen's cheeks did not go unnoticed by Fuji's watchful gaze, and although the young man protested vehemently ('I only know that because she gave me the wrong directions the first time I walked into the institute! First impressions really count!') Fuji could tell that despite the cold and aloof front that he put up he was still very much aware of members of the other gender. A pity that he didn't show it, since he was quite good looking and Fuji felt that he could easily get his fair share of girls (and possibly more) if he actually tried.

"Maa… maybe you should ask her to dinner one day," Fuji offered cheerfully, and playfully dodged Echizen's half-hearted attempt to strangle him. "Generous men are well liked by the ladies," he continued, grinning from ear to ear. Toying with the younger man and watching his reactions was rather enjoyable; Fuji wondered how he had never discovered this earlier.

A sudden rumbling overhead caused Fuji to stop in his teasings and he looked up, brows furrowing together. Fuji dearly wished that it would stop raining already; he had had enough of the wet substance to last him awhile. When it rained, Fuji was strictly forbidden from going on the roof (Oishi feared that he'd get seriously ill and Eiji feared that Fuji would try to 'escape' again), and, no matter how he tried to look at it, staying within the institute was _boring_.

Very, very boring, even when he was allowed to beat Echizen at chess.

"Let's go, Fuji-sempai," Echizen said, opening the door and holding it open for him. Giving the sky one last look, Fuji padded through the open door, hearing it click gently behind him as Echizen shut it.

"This rain will probably end sometime before tomorrow morning," the two of them heard Inui say as they entered the cafeteria. "In fact, I suspect that there is a 72% chance that it will be finished by 3 in the morning."

Sitting next to Oishi, Eiji piped up, "I never knew Inui knew about meteorology, nya! As expected of Inui!" The standing Inui shifted slightly at the praise while Fuji and Echizen slid into chairs, integrating themselves into the idle small talk that was going on. Tezuka was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Tezuka?" Fuji piped up curiously, and all turned to him. Oishi gave an apologetic shake of his head; he didn't know. The doctor hadn't seen Tezuka since breakfast, the other man claiming he had 'important matters' to attend to and then promptly vanished back into his room. This had puzzled Oishi, but he had simply written it off as Tezuka having one of his headaches again and finally deciding to get the rest that he deserved. Orders from the doctor were always important.

"You can go look for him; the last I saw him, he was in his room," Oishi offered, and Fuji gave a cheerful nod before getting up and trotting away. The young doctor's green eyes followed him until Eiji chirped something out that brought his attention back to the talk of the weather at the table.

Fuji left them talking, striding down the hallway before reaching Tezuka's closed door. Knocking once on it, a sharp rap of his knuckles, he opened it and poked his head into the room. There was Tezuka, sprawled out on his bed in the corner of the room, and Fuji couldn't help but smile widely at the sight. One of his hands was draped over his chest, loosely holding his glasses in them. His head lolled gently to one side, messy locks of his hair on his cheek and spread over the pillow. Even with the worm expression on his sleeping face, he still managed to effectively pull off the image of a dozing child.

Easing himself into the room, Fuji removed the glasses from the sleeping man and placed them on the nightstand where they wouldn't accidently be crushed ('accidents happen,' he remembered his mother being fond of saying) before sitting down on the edge of the bed, remaining quiet. Briefly, he wondered how long Tezuka had been napping in the quiet of his room. The bespectacled man didn't strike Fuji as the kind who liked to sleep more than the eight hours he did each night, and Fuji wondered what could have happened to make Tezuka feel the need to take a nap.

A little voice in his head refused to shut up in saying that he, Fuji, was the root of Tezuka's problems. Naturally, Fuji ignored it. What an absurd thought!

"Ne, Tezuka, you haven't been sleeping the whole day, have you?" he teased gently, and the other shifted. Fuji tilted his head gently to one side as the hazel eyes opened, blinking sleep away from them while their owner reoriented himself with his room. "Good morning!" Fuji chirped.

Tezuka gazed up at a fuzzy Fuji before groaning, pinching the bridge of his nose before moving his hand to massage his forehead tiredly. "Fuji," he greeted, pushing himself up into a sitting position. The fuzzy Fuji giggled, and he fumbled around for his glasses before feeling them being pressed lightly into his hand. Placing them on his nose, where they belonged, Tezuka's world instantly turned into the clear thing that it was, complete with a grinning Fuji. Instantly, alarm bells rang in Tezuka's head. When a person woke up, seeing a grinning person in front of them was generally not a good thing. He was reminded of a sleepover event that Eiji had described to him in vivid detail, which involved a prank that called into use massive amounts of toothpaste.

According to Eiji, the victim of the prank had been unable to get all of the toothpaste off of him until two days later. Suppressing a shudder, he subconsciously checked himself over, relieved that there was not a trace of toothpaste on any part of him.

"Did you need something?" Tezuka asked, muffling a yawn while Fuji made himself comfortable by taking up more space on the bed. Deciding that his current position wasn't good enough, Fuji snatched up Tezuka's comforter before he could even say a word, wrapping it around himself, wings and all. The satisfied smiled on his face reminded Tezuka of a cat allowed to nap in its favorite sunbeam.

Fuji burrowed into the comforter while Tezuka swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He didn't get up, though, and Fuji inched closer to him until he could rest his head on the strong shoulder. "Did you enjoy your nap?" he asked, pulling the warm covers more tightly against his body. A 'Hn,' from Tezuka was his answer, and Fuji stated offhandedly, "You don't seem like the kind to take naps, you know."

"Why?"

"Because you're always so serious and collected, so I expected that you were the kind of person who got everything done in a timely manner so that you were never tired and stressed out about approaching due dates with projects you haven't even started," Fuji replied, tilting his head so that he could stare up at Tezuka. He smiled impishly, adding, "But it's OK. I got to see a napping Tezuka today, and I probably won't be able to see it again for a long, long time." Tezuka frowned, but could not think of anything to say that could be as snappy as a comeback as he would have liked.

Fuji chuckled lightly at Tezuka's silence, finding it rather amusing. "Ne, Tezuka," he started, and when Tezuka made a vague gesture for him to continue, he asked hesitantly, "What do you think of me?"

"Of you?" Tezuka echoed, brows furrowing in confusion above his glasses. Fuji nodded, looking at him with the most pitiful puppy expressions he could possibly employ. Tezuka sighed, thinking carefully about how he should reply. Finally, he replied with a very intelligent: "Fuji is Fuji; how else am I supposed to think of him?"

A slightly disappointed look crossed Fuji's face. "Oh… so… nothing unique immediately pops into mind?" At Tezuka's bewildered expression Fuji drooped some more, before perking up, bright smile on his face. "Never mind, then! I was just curious!" he announced, while Tezuka just stared blankly at him. Leaping up, shaking free of the comforter, he skipped to the door, tossing out over his shoulder, "I'm going to see what everyone else is talking about; you should come, too!" And then he was gone, shutting the door behind him, leaving Tezuka to puzzle over Fuji's odd behavior.

On the other side of the door, Fuji heaved a soft sigh, sinking to the floor and drawing his knees to his chest. Why couldn't Tezuka answer him with something that was other than, 'Fuji is Fuji,' the phrase that he had heard nearly all his life? Couldn't he think of something else? Surely Fuji must be something else other than just… Fuji.

_A few adjectives would have been nice,_ he thought miserably to himself. _At least their job is to describe things. Names just labeled things. _The door behind him opened, and he didn't look up, although he felt the hand that was placed on his shoulder, heard the soft, "Fuji?" that was asked.

Fuji said nothing, simply willing himself to sort of collapse sideways, until he could lean into Tezuka's chest. There was a soft, 'Hm,' from Tezuka as the man shifted to give Fuji a better pillow.

"I'll think of something," Tezuka promised him, and pressed against his chest, Fuji smiled.

***

The rain ended sometime in the middle of the night, and when Fuji dragged himself out of bed and opened the shades of his window to peer outside, the lawn was fairly sparkling. The sunlight hit the water droplets collected on the grass and turned the entire lawn into a sparkling rainbow.

Fuji was captivated; it was absolutely gorgeous.

He was not the only one who thought so. At breakfast, Eiji simply would not stop raving about how _pretty_ the grass looked outside, and said, on more than one occasion, how he wished that he was thirteen again so that he could frolic outside in the wet grass without people giving him odd looks. The general public never could seem to grasp the idea that a twenty-three-year old could still play around like a child. After these statements, he'd always pout and hunch over his plate, looking sulky until something or another caught his attention. Needless to say, the meal was a cheery event and Eiji looked mock-disappointed enough to project Fuji's feelings as well. If Fuji was de-winged and thirteen, he would have happily joined Eiji in frolicking. Fuji had always retained the fantasy of dancing on a rainbow, although it was a very small one.

A door slammed somewhere down the hall, and all chatter ceased. Everyone glanced curiously at the cafeteria entrance; no one came up on the third floor, those who did were all in the cafeteria at the moment, and no one in their right minds would slam a door with Tezuka on that same floor for fear of running a hundred laps around the institute. Thus, all were puzzled at the slamming door, and that puzzlement only further rose when they heard a voice, distinctly female, cry out:

"But Obaa-san! You're not serious, are you?"

Tezuka rose from his seat, back tensed and expression more than dark. Inui and Oishi hastily followed suit, murmuring quick excuses before hurrying in brisk steps towards the open door. All three knew that only one person would so freely march up to their floor, and the panicking voice that kept pleading, "Obaa-san!" did nothing to soothe their feelings of unease.

Reaching the door, Tezuka was met with a rather stern old lady who took no time at all in giving him a hard look and brushing past him, as if he was nothing. "You are far behind schedule, Tezuka," she said, and Tezuka frowned, but said nothing. Sakuno hurried over to him and mumbled apology after apology, looking both intimidated and anxious at the same time. The elder Ryuuzaki swept her gaze quickly over the area, settling on Fuji. The steely gaze made the winged man flinch, although he met her gaze with his own smiling one.

"We've decided to carry on with our plans," she said sharply, and Oishi, from his spot next to Tezuka, took in a sharp breath. "We'll be beginning right away. Fuji-san, please, despite the early hour would you mind if we run a series of quick tests?" The false sweetness covering the blatant lie made Tezuka wish that he had the power to kick her out of the room, but as he couldn't do that, he simply tried to voice an objection.

But he was not even granted the liberty of objecting, as a strong voice commanded from behind him, "Leave it, Tezuka. You knew this was to happen, yet you purposefully avoided it. You've forgotten who you really are, Tezuka." Tezuka's hazel eyes narrowed behind their glasses as he turned to face Sakaki, waging an inner war with himself about whether or not he should snap out, which he was oh-so-tempted to do. Fuji's hand suddenly landed on his shoulder, and Tezuka found himself staring into sweet blue eyes.

"It's just a test, Tezuka," he said sweetly, and Tezuka was sorely tempted to tell Fuji to run thirty-some laps for being naïve. "I do them all the time, so this time shouldn't be any different, right?" Sighing, Tezuka could only trail reluctantly behind with the rest of his team and Sakuno as the elder Ryuuzaki and Sakaki led Fuji down the hall. Some inner voice was telling him that he should stop Fuji, but he had been trained from a very young age to respect his elders and, besides, he had no solid evidence to prove that something could happen other than a rather strong gut instinct.

And though Tezuka's rather strong gut instincts were usually right, he squashed it as he considered that he was a _scientist_, and scientists reached conclusions based on solid facts, not gut instincts.

"In here, Fuji-san," Ryuuzaki Sumire said, unlocking the one door that Tezuka wished would never be opened ever again. "I'm afraid you've never been in a test run on this machine, but it will be over soon."

Lies, Tezuka wanted to grumble out. It was all lies, his instincts echoed.

She opened the side door of the machine, motioning for Fuji to go in. Fuji tipped his head curiously to one side, giving the machine a guarded look before shrugging, as if deciding that this one looked no different from all the other appliances he had seen previously, and trotted over. "Will I fit?" he asked, judging the small area that was to be allotted him and then twisting his head to look over his shoulder, judging his wingspan. Turning back to the door, he squeezed himself inside, and with a little help got everything in. The compartment actually had a bit more room than he had previously thought, and he could stretch out his wings a little.

"Just imagine like you're outside, on a normal day," Ryuuzaki prompted. "Try to stay relaxed and keep your breathing even." Fuji nodded to show that he understood and the door was shut, leaving him to wonder just what exactly this test was. Through the glass, he saw her walk over to Tezuka, motioning for him to join her at the control panel. Tezuka hesitated, and although Fuji could not hear the conversation that passed between the two, it was obvious that Tezuka was not keen on performing the test. Finally, though, he was persuaded, although most unwillingly, to the panel.

Feeling as though his hand was not his own, the bespectacled man placed it on the lever, and giving the curious Fuji within his little compartment one last glance, yanked it down. "I'll get him out," he hissed out.

Sakaki spared him the smallest of glances. "When we're finished you can do whatever you want with him," he drawled out, and pressed a button. The machine kicked to life almost immediately, and Fuji's head snapped to the side as he inched towards the front of the compartment. Little tubes and valves opened up, pumping liquid into the compartment, and Fuji, with no where to go, could only watch with his hands plastered to the glass as the wet substance lapped at his feet, climbing up.

He didn't like this test; really, he didn't. Being in a closed container with liquid pouring in did not seem like a very safe environment.

"Tezuka?" he asked out, his voice abnormally tiny and made smaller with the rushing of the liquid all around him, echoing eerily around in the small compartment. Blue eyes were wide open with the beginnings of terror swimming in their deep depths as he looked to the man. To make matters worse, Tezuka turned away from him, eyes shadowed so he could not see them or the expression that they held. Only Inui would look directly at him, and even then, Fuji got the chilling feeling that he was looking straight _through _him, and not _at _him.

_Breathe normally, Fuji Syusuke,_ he instructed himself, gaze travelling from Tezuka to Inui and then back to Tezuka. _Remember, panicking helps no one. _This was a test; the lady had told him so. A test, a test, a test… he repeated this mantra to himself over and over again, clinging as best he could to the glass. His feathers were soggy and they weighed down his wings, bearing down on his back as he rested his forehead on the glass, willing himself to calm down, to quell the pounding of his heart against his ribs.

Sakuno started to cry when the liquid fully covered him, going well over his head before finally it was allowed to stop coming in, whimpering, "Angel-san…" before she was led out by Kaidoh and Taka. Inside the small compartment, hands pressed against the glass and face peering sadly out, Fuji was suspended, his small supply of oxygen quickly running out, frozen in the clear liquid that looked the same as the glass, until it looked like he had been captured like an insect in amber.

He was peering sadly out, all of the hurt and the betrayal right out there on his face as he looked at Tezuka, as if to ask him, 'why?' Inui and Oishi grabbed Tezuka's clenched hands to keep him in one spot, painfully aware of the sharp eyes of Sumire and Sakaki that were watching them and their every move. For several moments no one spoke, and it was eerily silent until the soft clicking of shoes against the floor was heard. Pausing at the door, Sakaki said, "We're done with him; you may do what you like."

Here, Momo interjected with a, "But, sir! You didn't even run any tests on him! It's unfair to nearly drown him without even conducting a test."

Sakaki gave the young man an unimpressed look. "I'm afraid you're badly mistaken," he said slowly. "This _was_ the test; for the social sciences are also a kind of science." Turning to Tezuka, a dry smile flitted across his face. "We look forward to seeing how you handle this," he added, before marching out the door with Sumire close behind him. Just before the door closed, Tezuka could hear the man saying, like it was an afterthought, "It's about time you've decided what he is to you and who you are, don't you think?" The door shut, leaving a more-than-furious Tezuka behind.

An anxious Oishi placed his hand on Tezuka's elbow while Inui redirected his attention to the compartment where Fuji was. Tezuka's head snapped to look where Inui was gesturing wildly, eyes widening behind the delicate frames of his glasses. Dark indigo eyes stared back at him, the scar on one cheek only serving to bring them out even more. They held Tezuka in place, refusing to let him go, and then, a wickedly cruel smile flitted across the darker Fuji's face, which none of them had seen in quite some time.

Slowly, deliberately moving his mouth to draw out every syllable, the other Fuji mouthed out against the glass: 'You betrayed him. He trusted you, and you hurt him.'

And Tezuka could say nothing, because all of it was true.

* * *

A/N: I'm sorry... this turned out worse than I wanted it. :( And I'm also very, very sorry for the long wait (so, naturally, I flood you with mass amounts of text)

I'm thinking I'm going to be wrapping this up in the next two-ish chapters. Until then, leave a review and some constructive critism? Or perhaps poke me with a spoon to make me write faster? *hands over spoon*


End file.
